The first rays of sunlight of the day were beginning to shine over Lake Lacrima by the time Rean returned to the cabin and upon climbing the staircase he was met with Laura, the girl asleep in one of the chairs at the porch with a blanket over her.

"She spent the entire night out here waiting for you," Sara said, leaning against the cabin's door. "I'm sure she'll be glad you're back, Rean. I know that I am."

Watching Laura there, her face clearly marred with worry even in her sleep, at first he was relieved that she didn't completely hate him, then he cursed himself for making her worry and that he would continue to do so. Still feeling confused and lost, all he could do at the moment was to keep moving forward even if he didn't know where he was heading.

After Rean's arrival, Sara woke up the rest of Class VII and, along with Claire, they returned to Zender Gate where the RMP captain stayed and from there they boarded the Courageous. Some of the airship's crew had come to greet them and were quickly met with the dismal mood between the members of Class VII.

"Guys, is everything okay?" Asked Towa with worry. "I've heard things weren't great after the watchtower but was there something else?"

"Hey, where's Rean?" Angelica immediately followed up, her eyes swiping over the ship's hangar.

"Over here," his dispirited voice came from inside Valimar and what he said after raised more than a few eyebrows from the others, aside from the rest of Class VII. "You guys can go on ahead. I… I need to check something inside Valimar."

Before anyone could ask what the hell was going on, Sara stepped up. "I'll fill you guys in on the important parts on the way to Roer. The rest is…" She ran her fingers over her hair with a tired sigh. "The rest is a bit private for me to say."

The rest of Class VII dispersed after that, with Laura hanging around and leaving for last before one last look at the Divine Knight and Rean but right before she left, she noticed the most minor nod of Valimar's head directed at her. Somehow she was sure that that had been Valimar acting independently and that he was reassuring her that he was also looking out for Rean. That calmed her, if only a little, before she left.

Arriving at the hallway that led to the elevator, Laura saw that Emma was standing there, clearly nervous and waiting for her, and she knew what that was going to be about.

"Laura, I wanted to-" The witch was cut off as Laura put her arms around her, holding her in a tight hug.

"You have nothing to apologize for and you are as much of a part of Class VII as the rest of us."

Emma was caught by surprise and didn't know what to say at first, her lips trembling. "B-but I lied to you about-"

"You didn't want to say something that might get between Rean and I, I understand. But if it makes you feel better then I forgive you."

The words were spoken with utter sincerity and care and Emma had to suppress a sob before returning the embrace from her friend.

"Now, come. Let's find Gaius, I believe he needs to hear similar words as well."

The Courageous was bound for Roer as Professor Schimidt had finally completed the tachi for Valimar and they would soon arrive at the industrial city, which was why Margarita thought it was incredibly odd how Millium had decided to go to the ship's kitchen and started baking a pie. Well, it would be odd if it was anyone but Millium, what truly concerned her was how, after the pie was done, the little girl put it on a table and just stared at it with a distant look aimed at the food.

"Now you see why I called you here?" The Dresden girl said to Jusis, who looked at the strange scene in equal disbelief. "She's always so cheerful and excited about food, I don't understand. Is this about what got all of you guys so down?"

Jusis sighed, pitching the bridge of his nose. "She's too excited about food, I should say, but yes. I'll handle this. Thank you for calling me, Margarita."

"Think nothing of it, dear."

The young Albarea moved to Millium's table and sat across from her and was truly astounded when she made no reaction to it. The pastry that she intensely stared at like it held all the mysteries of the universe seemed edible but… "What kind of pie is that?"

"Gorgonzola cheese, tuna and white chocolate."

Well, at least her dubious taste for food hadn't changed. What was different about Millium that Jusis immediately noticed was that her reply had come with none of her usual demeanor. Margarita was right, the girl's bright attitude was completely absent.

"Tell me what this is all about," Jusis asked, although he had a pretty good idea already.

"Since I woke up today at the cabin I've been feeling… Weird. I felt strange like, I dunno, like there was a tightness in my chest and emptiness in my stomach so I thought I was really hungry. But that feeling kept up even after we had breakfast at Zender Gate so I made this pie because I thought I was still hungry but then I sat here and realized I'm not but my stomach still feels empty and my chest still feels tight and I don't get it."

Jusis nodded and allowed his expression to soften. "You're feeling sad, Millium."

Her brow furrowed and Millium lifted up her head to look at Jusis. "But why? I didn't feel like this when I heard Crow shot Gramps, so why now?"

"If you allow me to make an assumption, that sensation you're feeling actually started yesterday, didn't it?"

The girl thought it over for a bit then nodded. "I guess. I keep thinking back about hearing Rean and Laura fight and then she said that thing about him…" Her lips pressed into a thin slit, stopping herself from repeating tht horrible thing she had heard. "He doesn't want to, right? There's no way! Why would he?"

Jusis let out a weary sigh and got up from his seat and moved to sit next to Millium, putting a hand over her shoulder. "He doesn't, Rean simply has a very low opinion of himself. Laura realizes that too but back then she was confused and scared. It's a very harrowing thing to think about your partner, or in your case, a dear friend."

"Oh… Is that why you punched him?"

"Among other things, yes."

Millium let out a loud sigh before yelling "Being sad sucks!" as if the louder she shouted, the more sadness would leave her body. It didn't work though. "Is that how you felt when your mom died?" she asked in a much lower tone.

Sad but still with the tact of a mule. "Much worse, in fact."

She looked up to him with her eyes somewhat wider open. "Wow, that sounds awful. I think I'd actually cry if I felt worse than this."

"Let's hope it never comes to that."

The young intelligence agent nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks for talking to me, Jusis. I feel a little better now."

"I am glad to be of assistance." Jusis then gave a gentle squeeze on her shoulder before getting up. Despite the weight of the topic, he was glad to see the emotional development in Millium.

"You know what would help me feel even better?" Millium asked with a slight edge to her voice.

Oh Aidios, she's back to her usual self already, he thought. "As much as I know I am going to regret asking it, what could it possibly be?"

"It would make me, like, super happy if you helped me eat this pie I made!"

"I wholeheartedly refuse."

"I can't believe Rean has been feeling like this. I should have-"

"Nope. Zip it, Towa," Sara hastily cut off the acting captain of the Courageous. They were in the conference room along with Angelica while George was talking to them through the screen at the wall. The instructor had just relayed the events of the previous day to them, although omitting the more private aspects of that night. "That's why I hesitated telling you anything. You cannot, and I can't stress this enough, you cannot try to shoulder this. We have way too many people blaming themselves for things they didn't do already."

"Hate to say it, Towa, but she's right," said Angelica. "I hung out with Rean more than you and while I did know he was at least playing up some of his act, I never really saw what was underneath it either. Standing here and talking about how we failed to notice he's been going through some shit isn't going to help anybody, least of all him."

Towa opened her mouth to counter her friend but then George tagged in. "We didn't notice what Crow has been planning either and we've known him for over a year. This stuff with Rean, well, I think it's even less obvious than that, so we can hardly try to shoulder any responsibility over it."

Worn down by everyone around her making too much sense, the ship's captain collapsed on one of the chairs.

"I know how you feel, Towa. I really do," said Sara, coming next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I keep wondering that if I had reached out to him sooner instead of being worried about my own hang ups it would've changed anything but the more I think about it, the more I believe it wouldn't. I think this was something that needed to happen, it's not an ideal situation but he can't run from it or hide from us anymore."

"What do we do then? Rean needs help. He can't stay like that, locked inside Valimar and not talking to anybody. And I don't even mean because of the war, it's simply not healthy for him."

"You do bring up a good point, though," Angelica said with a weary sigh, rubbing the bridge of her noose. "We can't win this without Rean but he can't possibly fight Crow the way he is right now."

"For what's worth, I think that the heart-to-heart we had yesterday already helped him a little, he wouldn't have come back if it didn't. Right now, I think he needs some time and space to figure himself out," said Sara.

"Which isn't going to be easy since you guys are coming to Roer to get Valimar's sword," George added, then he looked to the side and approached his face to the camera, speaking hushedly. "If Rean's as bad as you guys say he is, I really don't think he should have to deal with Professor Schmidt for the time being."

"Right, that," Sara rubbed her eyes. "Well, lucky for us, Schmidt is such a bright ray of sunshine that if you say he doesn't have to bother overseeing the delivery of the sword then he won't show up. So, George, if you'd please…"

"I'm on it, instructor."

"That's one less thing to worry about, now we just have to figure out how to get Rean out of his funk before the push to Heimdallr. At least the mess with the cryptids and magic knights made the Imperial Army push that back so thank Aidios for small mercies. So, any ideas?" Angelica said to the room and got a big ol' bag of nothing from her friends and instructor.

The delivery of the zemurian ore tachi happened in the outskirts of Roer, at one of the Reinford Company's weapons testing grounds, and it went without a hitch but with much less fanfare than expected. George did manage to convince Professor Schmidt to not be present although it required more coaxing than he was expecting because the aged scientist had been adamant that Rean gave him a report on Valimar's self repair mechanism immediately. In the end, the professor conceded that a written report later would be more appropriate.

Rean gave the sword a few test swings and even in his less than ideal emotional state he could tell it felt different how the weapon fit neatly in Valimar's hands. Its size, its weight, everything about the sword felt just right, like he was swinging his own weapon. Soon the test swings turned into full blown katas as Rean was caught up in the sensation and his mind focused on the teachings of the Eight Leaves One Blade. It gave his friends watching hope that he was getting past his issues but once it was over…

"It's perfect, George. Thank you," Rean simply said before returning to the hangar with Valimar and the tachi.

And so it continued like that for the better part of the day with Rean locked inside Valimar while the rest of Class VII made themselves busy, getting ready for what could be the final mission of this war. The rest of the Courageous crew, while not privy to what had really transpired the previous day, were just as worried about Rean and while some decided to give the guy some space, others made some brave attempts at cheering him up.

"Aww, man, I really thought he'd go for it," Kenneth, decked in full fishing gear, walked away from the hangar with his shoulders slumped.

"Well, at least you tried," Machias patted the fisherman in the shoulder while rolling his eyes. Yeah, like that would work.

The two were met with Fie and Vivi, with the former jaeger carrying a tray of food. "Bringing Rean some grub. I guess he wasn't up for fishing, huh."

"Crazy, right? Fishing always helps me when I'm feeling down. Hope you two have better luck than me."

"I want to say Fie is going to shove the food down Rean's mouth if he acts difficult but I don't think she can even get inside Valimar," said Vivi.

The two girls then proceeded to the hangar and halfway to where Valimar was docked, Fie stopped. "Can you give us some privacy? There's some stuff I need to tell Rean too."

Vivi imagined that was the case and nodded and patted Fie on the shoulder. "Good luck."

"Thanks… And don't try to sneak on us to listen in, I'll be able to tell."

The pink haired girl expressed no reaction to the accusation, her face completely unmoving. "I… Totally wasn't going to do that."

"Uh huh."

With that dealt with, Fie continued the rest of the way until she was standing in front of Valimar. "Hey, Rean. I brought you this. It's steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables. There's also orange juice and," she sighed. "A slice of gorgonzola, tuna and white chocolate pie. Millium's recipe. Didn't want to inflict this on you but she insisted. How do I…" Fie looked around for a place to put the food tray.

"You may set the tray on the floor at my feet," Valimar replied in Rean's stead.

She did so, placing it near the foot of the Divine Knight and as soon as she did, the tray and its content turned into energy and traveled inside Valimar.

"Oh, neat." She nodded and waited for any word from Rean, bouncing on the balls of her feet, but it was clear he wasn't going to budge. He hadn't even talked to her, making Valimar do it for him instead. Things were really bad.

"Laura was going to bring that to you but I asked if I could instead because there's something I need to tell you," the silver haired girl finally said, sitting down in front of the Divine Knight, looking up to the giant and hoping Rean was looking at her from the cockpit's screen. "You were my first friend, you know? Zephyr was my family but everyone was always looking out for me, taking care of me, protecting me, I guess like a daughter or a niece. Sara was a bit the same too though now I get why."

That was something Fie still needed to process fully, it felt completely surreal to learn that she and Sara were such close mirrors to each other.

"But you? You were different. I told you all of that already back when I gave you the flowers but I think I need to tell you again, in case you forgot. I mean, sure, I liked hanging out with you because you were fun but also you treated me like an equal and that mattered a lot, actually. Mattered more than I realized at first, more than if you were to get hurt trying to protect me from something.

"You made me hang around other people and that made it easier for me to be friends with the others, since I didn't know how to make friends or anything else, really, about living in regular society. I guess we were equals in that too, just trying to figure out how to fit in. So it's fine, you know? It's fine if you were taking cues from Crow, it doesn't change anything. Just like me, you were trying to learn how to be around other people. Besides, I was kinda imitating you too. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have danced with Vivi and kissed her and I wouldn't have a girlfriend now, I guess," Fie turned her face and scratched her cheek in a poor attempt at hiding her blushing. "So, you know, thanks for all of that. Hope you get better soon, we need you, boss."

From inside Valimar's cockpit, Rean watched as Fie, her cheeks still flushed pink, leveled a smile at him before getting up. Words caught on his throat and by the time he figured out something to say, she had already left. Fie had added on top of what everyone else had already said the previous day, chipping at his lack of self worth but still, he couldn't face everyone again, not yet.

Not that it mattered if Rean felt ready or not, for the world had a way to force his hand.

Back to Fie and Vivi, the girls were walking towards the elevator, the twin playfully prodding the ex-jaeger about what she had said to Rean.

"Don't tell me you actually professed your love for him and you're going to duel Laura for his hand!? And I thought we had something special! What shall I do now, abandoned in the middle of this war by my one true love!" Vivi threw her head back in feigned outrage and it caused Fie to let out a small chuckle, which had been what she was aiming for. Like everyone else, she didn't know what had transpired at the watchtower, all she knew was that Class VII as a whole was down in the dumps, which included Fie, so if she could get her to smile even a bit it was a win in her book.

The door to the elevator opened and from there emerged Laura, her distressed expression signaling trouble.

"Ah crap, what now?"

"We have a hostage situation in our hands," said Captain Claire, calling still from Zender Gate.

As she explained it, one hour prior, the RMP had received a radio transmission from a group identifying themselves as the Bugbear jaeger corp informing that they had hijacked an airliner bound for Arteria and were now demanding a 10 million mira ransom for the safe return of the airship's crew and passengers.

"Going by the last time we heard about Bugbear, I'd imagine they're acting independently again, just trying to make easy money in the middle of the war," Sara said with an edge to her voice. She so wasn't in the mood for those losers again and Fie echoed her sentiment.

"Are they stupid? No self-respecting jaeger group pulls this kind of crap."

"Let's just call them for what they truly are, a bandit group," said Jusis.

"Do you have any information on the status of the hostages, captain?" Asked Laura.

"As careless as Bugbear are, they know that hurting the hostages is counterproductive to their goals. Still, it's impossible to be completely sure as we don't know what transpired during the hijacking of the airship. What we do know is their possible location, which is why I am asking for the assistance of the Crimson Wings in rescuing the civilians."

"How did you come across that information, captain?" Asked Towa. "And why does it mean you need us specifically?"

"From the drop off location of the ransom we can infer that the jaegers as well as the hostages are somewhere within the vicinity. That location being…" And there Claire hesitated, her eyes subtly moving towards one member of the Crimson Wings in particular. "Northwest of Ymir, somewhere within the Eisengard Mountains. As such we need someone with familiarity with the region to help locate the airship and the hostages."

All eyes in the conference room turned to Rean and he swallowed dryly, expression frozen in place. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw his friends' surprise and, most obvious, apprehension. Everyone knew he wasn't in perfect shape for this but at the same time, he had spent months training in the mountains with Master Yun Ka-fai as well as gone on hunting trips with his father, he knew the region better than anyone else there. And now there were people in there in danger and he had the capacity to do something about it.

"I'll do it. We… We need to rescue those people."

He wished he could have said it with more confidence.

"Are you sure you're up for this, Rean?" Asked Sara, her voice firm and commanding. "A hostage rescue operation is an extremely delicate thing. One misstep could lead to civilians getting hurt or worse."

"I understand, instructor. I know that I'm not at 100% right now so I can hang out in the back. We just need a guide, right, captain?"

Claire nodded. "Yes. I've already contacted the officers we have stationed in Ymir. I'd go myself but I can't get there soon enough and we can't waste any time. But Rean-"

"As I said, I'll do it," he then turned to Laura. "People need our help and as such we can't sit idly by."

As soon as they had finished hashing out the final details of the operation with Captain Claire, the Courageous departed from Roer's airport. The details of the mission were as follows: with the location where the exchange would occur, Rean was able to point on a map the potential spots where Bugbear jaegers and their hostage could be hidden, as there were only enough places in the mountain range where one could safely land an airliner. Using Valimar wasn't an option, as the Divine Knight wasn't built for subtlety and the mere sight of him could exacerbate the situation, forcing the jaegers to take drastic measures, so the Courageous would drop them at a far enough distance from where the jaegers wouldn't be able to see them and from there they would trek the rest of the way on foot.

That would still have meant a lot of time wasted searching for the airliner hidden between the mountains were it not for the presence of Zeo, who could fly over to the locations pointed by Rean and easily locate the airship. Still, the terrain at the Eisengard Mountains was tricky, filled with narrow and steep pathways and one had to know which routes were safe to pass through, and the Ymir native who had spent months there knew exactly how to take them where they needed to be, dedicating every bit of his mental power on that task.

He wasn't thinking about why he wasn't in the vanguard position with Laura like he usually was, nor about the emptiness in his stomach that wouldn't stop, nor the uneasiness he could feel from the combat-links with the rest of Class VII.

Meanwhile, RMP officers were en route to the exchange location where, presumably, the jaegers would hand off the hostages, but everyone doubted it would be that easy. Bugbear had proven themselves to be greedy, shameless and, most of all, stupid and the chances of them returning only some of the hostages upon receiving the ransom then demanding more mira for the rest were high, as were the chances of them being emboldened by their success and trying to pull another similar stunt.

The walk through the mountains was a silent and tense one and more than once Class VII had to deal with roaming monsters quickly and quietly so as to not alert anyone of their presence, but they managed to make good progress. As they had to, it was important for them to find the hostages before the hostages were moved. The perilous mountains of the Eisengard Range were not a place for civilians to be in.

Along the path, a signal sent from Rean through combat-links told them to stop. "We're here. Turning to the right after that big rock, we'll reach a slope that'll put us right behind the airship. I've actually been here before with Master Ka-fai during my training. There are trails going southwest, northwest and east."

"And I imagine those other paths are just as tricky to navigate as the path we've been through?" Asked Sara.

"Even more so."

"Alright. Fie, scout ahead then come back."

"Ja."

The silver haired girl zipped to the rock wall, quickly climbing over it then moving ahead, while the rest of Class VII waited for her. It was a short wait but some of them used the idle time for one last check of their weaponry or, in Laura's case, to think. She wanted to tell Rean that he was doing a great job, that it was thanks to him that they would be able to rescue those people, but she felt it would be condescending at the moment, even if it was true, so she kept to herself.

Once Fie returned, she gave her report of the situation: it seemed they had managed to arrive in time before Bugbear started moving the hostages. There were three jaegers patrolling the airship's perimeter and from the second floor windows she spotted the hostages as well as more jaegers guarding them.

Emma looked at her wristwatch. "Considering it's one hour until the assigned time for the meeting with the RMP officers and the long way they have to go down the mountain, they should've started moving by now. It seems the suspicion that they were never planning on fulfilling their end of the deal was spot on."

"That or they're only taking some of the hostages, while still keeping some prisoners either as insurance or to ask for more money later," said Alisa.

"Either way, we can't let them get away with this," said Sara. "Fie, you and I will take down the patrols then we'll enter the ship. Let's try to keep this quiet for as long as possible."

It was the middle of the day and the area around the airliner provided to no cover for them, but both former jaegers had no issue sneaking behind the guards and knocking them out, then handing them out to Gaius, Rean and Millium (technically Airgetlam) to carry inside the airship where they were tied down and kept out of sight.

With that out of the way, it was time for them to storm the ship. Sara, Laura, Gaius, Alisa, Emma and Millium would work on rescuing the hostages on the second floor, while a second team formed by Fie, Elliot and Jusis would search the rest of the airship for any remaining civilians as well as their kidnappers. Rean and Machias were relegated to watching the airship's entrance and the unconscious jaegers.

The seconds passed tortuously slowly for Rean as he continued to focus his mind and senses on his task. He was glad that he had been able to offer any amount of assistance in the operation, that he had managed to not fuck it up, but he didn't allow the idea that he was okay to get in his head. He kept his focus on sensing the world around him.

Machias was nervous and Rean didn't need higher senses to notice that as his friend gripped his shotgun tightly.

Coming from inside the airship he caught bits and pieces of the ensuing commotion after the first gun shot had been fired, the sound distinctly not coming from Instructor Sara or Fie's guns. Screams and yelling, Arts being cast and more gunshots, some of those coming from the guns of his friends.

Things were going well, he imagined. He wasn't worried about them or the safety of the hostages, his friends were talented, competent, they didn't need him.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" A gruff, male voice shouted out from the outside.

Both Rean and Machias froze up, exchanging worried glances as they got into their combat stances, hiding behind the sides of the entrance. A set of boots was coming their way at a slow, casual pace, meaning that at least the jaegers hadn't figured things out yet but…

"I don't like this. Where are the guards?" Rean heard another man say from farther away.

"Probably rounding up the rest of the hostages," the first one replied, coming in closer to the airship's entrance, about 10 arges away give or take. Too close. Rean could still hear the scuffle going on inside the airship and as amateurish as the Bugbear jaegers were, even the burst of machine gun fire that came from the airship signaled things weren't going in their favor.

"Hey, what's going on!?" The jaeger who had so far been approaching slowly broke into a sprint towards the airship. As soon as he passed the entrance's threshold, Rean cut his orbal rifle in half, a slash across his right thigh made him lose balance and a strike with the pommel of his sword knocked him out.

Turning to Machias, Rean saw him with his gun pointed outside before lowering. "The other ran away," he said with a bitter expression. "Rean, he called the people here the rest of the hostages, does that mean…?"

There were other hostages somewhere, as well as more jaegers. And from the position of the airship's entrance, if Machias saw the other jaeger running away, that could only mean he took the northwestern pathway.

But that's… Oh no.

"Machias, get through Instructor Sara and the others. I needed to catch up to them."

Rean left before Machias could ask what he was doing, moving faster than his self-doubt could make him question if he was capable of doing this.

The trail going southwest was the long way down the mountain but also the safest one and, of course, not the one the Bugbear jaegers took. No, they had to take the northwestern trail, the fastest route down but also the most dangerous one. Were they really thinking of walking all passengers through there? Through narrow pathways, slopes, uneven terrain and the like? It was madness.

Rean turned on a bend and was met with a group of ten or so people, clearly civilians, if their clothes and shell shocked expressions were anything to go by. Had the jaegers just ran and abandoned them? If so, that would make things easier.

"Please, please, you must save them!" A woman came to Rean, desperately pleading with tears starting to flow from her eyes. A man soon came along, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"One of those scoundrels was walking us when one of his friends came running, shouted something and each grabbed one of our girls and then both left," the man's lips trembled. He was barely holding himself together. "Young man, do you know what's going on? Are you here to rescue us?"

Rean found himself at a crossroads then. A voice in his mind told him to wait for the others, to not repeat the same mistake that almost cost Laura's life back in the highlands, that he shouldn't risk the lives of the hostages by acting alone. On the other hand, the rest of Class VII was still handling the situation at the airship and he couldn't be sure when that would be resolved and the more he waited, the farther and deeper into the dangerous trail the jaegers would take those girls, and he was plenty aware of the risks that entailed.

"Wait here," Rean said, putting a determined mask to the worried parents. "My friends will arrive soon and we'll get your children back to you."

The woman continued to cry as her husband held her and the man gave Rean a nod before the swordsman bolted out of there.

Rean ran, dashing across the path as fast as he could, hoping to make up for lost time and that carrying two children with them had slowed down the jaegers enough, but then he had to jump back behind a rock as a hail of bullets rained upon him. Thankfully he had Adamantine Shield protecting him- No, no he didn't have Adamantine Shield. He hadn't waited for Machias to cast it on him, there was no time, other people were in danger and it didn't matter if he… There was no escape from actively thinking about it now that Laura had forced him to confront that part of him but this wasn't the appropriate moment for that.

Rean peaked around the rocks and confirmed that the jaeger he had been chasing had run off again. He went ahead, using his knowledge of the terrain ahead to move quicker than his target, although the fear of an ambush also made him slow down and watch his step.

It won't do any good if I die here.

Eventually he caught up to them and unfortunately was where he feared the most: a natural rock bridge that was less than one arge in width crossing over the chasm below. One of the Bugbear jaegers was on the back while the other on the front with the two girls between them.

"Move faster, damnit!" One of the men shouted and shoved the girl forward, making her scream and yelp in fear as she almost lost her balance.

At least both jaegers had their backs turned to him, too scared to miss their steps in the narrow path to properly watch their backs. Using that to his advantage, Rean approached slowly, carefully and without making a sound while his mind took care of summoning and positioning Valimar. Ideally, he should wait for them to finish crossing the bridge into steadier ground before giving chase but he knew he couldn't count on that.

As if on cue, the jaeger on the back turned his head around to look behind him and almost gave Rean a heart attack as, upon seeing the swordsman that close to them, pivoted around abruptly, bumping on the hostage in front of him and making the girl stumble and hold on her sister in front of her. In turn, the second girl also stumbled forward and had to hold on to the other jaeger, who at least managed to keep his balance.

It would be comical how incompetent they were if not for the fact their idiocy could lead to someone dying.

"Stay right where you are!" The jaeger he had chased shouted, rifle pointed at Rean, while the girls cried for help.

"And you two shut up!" The other jaeger yelled, putting the blade of his knife against the throat of one of them, causing the girl to whimper.

"Let them go and you can walk away," Rean said, doing his best to not allow his voice to crack, feeling like he had messed up again. He should've waited for Instructor Sara and the others to arrive and handle this but the trail ahead was no less dangerous, the rock formation they were in was just the first of many, so even if they could be tracked down with Zeo and Valimar, any number of accidents could happen. Damned if he had waited for reinforcements, damned if he hadn't.

"No way in hell. These girls are our ticket for none of you RMP fucks coming after us."

The jaegers took one step back, dragging their hostages with them, and Rean took one short step forward, slightly leaning forward and looking for an opening to attack.

The stand off continued for a tense, silent moment then the jaeger with the rifle steadied his aim at Rean, threatening to shoot, but from behind Rean came the sound of hurried footsteps and the rifleman changed his sights.

"Okay, everyone, let's take a deep breath and calm down," Instructor Sara said, her voice even but he could picture her pistol pointed at their enemies.

"Rean, are you okay?" Laura's voice was filled with worry.

He gulped. "Everyone's okay, Laura," he said then turned back to the jaegers. "Look, we aren't RMP, we're here just for the hostages, we don't care about arresting you. Just let them go, nobody has to get hurt."

He tried to risk another step forward but then one of the girls cried as the jaeger holding her pressed the edge of his knife against her skin. "Anyone takes another step and this girl is done for, you all hear me? So nobody moves, got it?" He pointed his knife behind Rean. "You two as well. One false move and your friend gets a bullet to the head."

Another tense moment passed as the jaegers slowly backed away. From behind him, Rean could feel the anger coming from Laura and their instructor, unable to do anything. From her position, Sara could take the shot and hit one of the jaegers but not before the other reacted, either killing one of the hostages or Rean. Meanwhile, Laura was even more impotent in that scenario, unable to do anything from a distance. Only Rean was close enough, only he had the means of ensuring that the jaegers wouldn't hurt the hostages but he hesitated, unsure if he was capable of doing it, and his window of opportunity to act was closing as they moved away from his range of attack.

If I mess this up- No, it's not the time for that.

It was not the time for self-doubt nor to put the blame on himself, he had to do his job and save those girls and so, Rean closed his eyes and emptied his mind. Right then and there he reached for the technique of the Unclouded Eye, not as the meditative exercise he was used to but as the first step of his next move. As Master Ka-fai had once put it: emptying his mind in the same manner one had to remove all of the furniture from a room before reorganizing it into a better set up.

"A clear mind devoid of any disturbances and complete control of the self…"

There was no reason to doubt the jaegers' threats. The one with the rifle had his gun aimed directly at Rean, finger twitching at the trigger, and one sudden move from the swordsman would spell him getting shot.

"Of the very fiber of your being."

Even his power wouldn't solve this. Rean couldn't transform fast enough and he couldn't count on the jaegers being too scared to act.

"No tells, no preparatory movements."

He only had one chance, one move, to get everyone out of there alive.

"Attack from nowhere and everywhere."

Rean opened his eyes back and for a brief moment he could see everything. The faintest breathing coming from his enemies, their dilated pupils rapidly moving from Rean to the people behind him, their muscles twitching at every minor movement of their bodies. The trigger of the jaegers' rifle creaked as his finger exerted more pressure into it, he could end up firing without noticing. The girls shivered and whimpered uncontrollably. Behind him, Laura's muscles tensed and her heart thundered in her chest, and Instructor Sara tightened the grip on her pistol.

The wind blew across the canyon and the rock bridge groaned under them, if Bugbear had walked all of the airship's passengers and crew over the structure could've collapsed entirely.

The world around him was an open book.

And he could see every action available to him, every possible route he could use to neutralize the jaegers and save the hostages, and he caught himself looking for the ones that involved him sacrificing himself as his first options. That wasn't the answer, couldn't be, not after what everyone said to him. Not when he had so much left to tell them.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form…

It was the blinking of an eye.

In one fluid movement, faster and more precise than anyone present could've expected, Rean lept forward right as the first jaeger blinked, closing the gap between them in an instant, slicing through his rifle with an upwards slash followed by shoving him off the bridge with a body check. Fast enough that he seemed to have teleported and replaced his companion, the other jaeger had no time to react when the tachi swung over the heads off the girls, cutting at his wrist and making him drop his knife, then Rean smacked him with the flat of his blade in the head, and made him fall off as well.

Rean's next action was much simpler, he merely held both girls firmly so they wouldn't lose their balance and fall and assured them that they were safe.

"Everything's going to be okay, nobody is going to hurt you anymore."

The children had barely noticed what happened but when they realized someone was holding them and it wasn't their kidnappers they started to cry in relief as their legs gave out while simultaneously thanking whoever it was that had saved them.

Next to them, the jaegers were screaming in panic as they fell to their deaths, despite the fact they weren't falling anymore as Valimar appeared holding both on each hand.

Rean had to hold fast as the sensory overload of the Unclouded Eye hit him with a massive migraine but that was fine, it was nothing he couldn't deal with. Once he opened his eyes again and looked up, he saw Instructor Sara letting out a relieved sigh and Laura was smiling at him and, if he wasn't mistaken, he could feel she was proud of him.