Welcome back everyone! Wehn we were with Marta last time, we saw Marta open up further to her new Unit and her father Brute, reluctantly, asked Marta and her Unit to help rescue six women from Palmacosta who were captured by four Tethe'allan nobles.

How will their first mission go? We'll find that out after a quick trip to the Present.


Grass Field Outskirts [Present Day]

Marta recounted her first day with her Unit in dear fondness along with a sense of pride when her father asked her for help, even though she was the only option at the time. As Emil and the others listened to Marta, they figured that Marta must have saw them as sisters, considering that even though they just met, they got along very well.

"It sounds like you really cared for your friends." Colette said with a happy smile. Even though Marta was recounting what happened at Palmacosta, Colette knew she didn't need to apologize, trying to take Marta's words to heart about not apologizing any further. After all, they've become friends now and that's all that matters.

"Yes. All seven of them became like sisters to me. Like you, Raine, Sheena and Presea." Marta replied in a greatful tone to the Chosen of Regeneration. Marta did wish she could introduce everyone to her Unit, believing they would like the Heroes of World Regeneration.

"M-me. A sister? You sure know how to make me flustered..." Sheena said with some embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head.

"Like I said before, you can call me sister anytime Marta." Presea replied with a thankful smile to Marta as Raine gave a smile of her own toward Marta, as the elder Half-Elf understood thr joys of having a younger sibling, blood related or otherwise.

"That means a lot Marta. Thank you." Colette said to Marta with a cheerful smile with the young girl returning the gesture.

"It's still incredible Brute would ask you for help with rescuing people. Didn't you feel nervous?" Emil asked his beloved in concern as he figured that Brute would be VERY protective of his daughter, so the idea of a father sending his only child on a daunting task like this sure sounded concerning.

"Well, two years ago, when we were setting up the Vanguard... Daddy did allow me to take care of some errands or take small journeys on my own before. Besides, this was likely before Solem's Core made him lose his sanity, but I could tell he genuinely didn't want to send me. I mean, any parent wouldn't want to send their child into danger." Marta replied to Emil, while also explaining to him why Brute would trust Marta with a mission like this. While Emil wondered what kind of Journeys she took in the past, he knew the story she's telling now is more important.

"I see. So, what happened when you and the others rescued the kidnapped women?" Emil asked Marta, wondering how she and the Vanguard Special Unit handled rescuing the kidnapped women from the Nobles while hoping that she didn't get hurt doing so. As Marta took a deep breath to begin recounting, Zelos and Regal listened intently as they are fully aware of how Tethe'allan Nobles resorted to kidnapping the Sylveranti, a fact that made their blood boil just thinking about it. Even the King frowned upon this kind of awful behavior.

"Well, it involved a certain plan that involved most of us distracting the people guarding the tent outside..." Marta said as she recalled the very first mission thay has been entrusted to her...


Marta's Dream [Hakonesia Peak Outskirts]

Marta snuck around to try and find an opening from behind the tent so she could sneak in. Sure enough...

'Bingo!' Marta thought to herself as she saw he chance to sneak in, but as she thought, there were at least two guards around that opening. Noticing that, Marta got out a small mirror from her pouch and used the sun to signel Emerald, who is hiding on a tree branch with a blow dart ready. A minute or two passes until she blew a rush of air into her blow dart, hitting one of the guards in his shoulder.

"Ah!" The guard grunted as he pulled out the dart from his shoulder, prompting the other near by to notice.

"Hey! What's wro-" The other guard asked before he got shot by another dart and sure enough, the first guard started to wobble before he fell to the ground, unconscious. Eventually, the other guard passed out too.

'Great! Emerald's Sleep Darts worked!' Marta thought as she looked to where Emerald is and gave her a thumbs up, with the kunoichi returning it with her own thumbs up. Marta looked around a saw another guard about to walk around and before he can notice hpthe two guards on the ground...

*SWIFT*

"UHMMM-!" A rush of gold wind blew by and grabbed him, pulling him into the bushes before ehe even knew what was going on.

*SMACK!*

A brief punch was heard before Topaz walked out and dragged the other two into the bush, giving Marta a wink before she went into the bushes. Eventually, Selene walked up to Marta...

"How's it looking Selene?" Marta asked her dark haired look-alike in regards to the plan, hoping they dwindled the number just enough to make it less hard on them.

"We managed to capture 7 of the guards on our end, but I think they're beginning to notice most of them are gone..." Selene reported to her captain. With this Marta nodded in response.

"Good! Make sure Vermillion has that device ready. If they say what we need to hear and if the King is a good person, then we won't need to worry about them again. Just make sure tell Azure to meet up with me and we'll head inside. One more thing, tell the others to only wound the enemy. Do not kill." Marta told Selene in a soft whsiper while insisting that no one is killed in the scuffle. For one, it would not make them look good to Tethe'alla if they resort to their level of brutality. Besides, their goal is to rescue the women and strip the nobles of their status if they could.

"Understood, you be safe in there..." Selene said as Marta nodded in reply before the former ran back to the rest. Afterword, Marta heard some voices...

"What!? What do you mean some of my servents are missing!?" Yelled a voice, most likely a noble yelling at one of his own men. This made Marta fell somewhat bad for the servent in question...

"L-like I said, it's like some of them vanished! I think there's only half of us left..." The servent nervously said to the noble. Marta had no idea if he was talking to his master or not, but it didn't sound good.

"What!? Okay, I'm coming out, you two come with me! You, stay here and make sure these Sylveranti vixens don't go anywhere!" The noble commanded as everything went silent aside from a couple of footsteps. However, the fact that the noble called their captives "vixens" sent chills down Marta's spine. Eventually...

"I'm here Lady Marta." Azure said as she met up with her captain, ready to head in. Marta took a glance in the tent and saw some boxes that she can use as cover.

"I need you to watch this entrance as I get the others out. There's only one noble inside by now..." Marta whispered to the blue haired woman in regards to what she's supposed to do.

"What? There's not supposed to be a single noble in there!" Azure whisper with some slight frustration. The goal was to lure all four of them out into the open.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go in there alone. I insist on going in with you." Azure continued, not wanting Marta to do this alone where this noble could seriously harm her captain.

"Okay, but we'll need to be quick about it, the others could start fighting any..." Marta replied in agreement, but before she could say anything further.

*BOOM!*

A loud torrent of fire flew up into the sky causing yells to go off and with that...

"Attack those bastards! CHAAAAAAAARGE!" Scarlet yelled as she let out a hearty battle cry.

"Take that! And that! And that! AND THAT!" Emerald shouted as she joined the battle and just by the clang sounds is using her ninja weapons.

"You're going down you big jerks!" Lavender yelled as Marta and Azure saw her ball fly around for a moment before falling back down.

"Batter up!" Topaz yelled as she charged in, knocking one guy high into the air with the servent yelling as he fell back down.

"I'm right behind you!" Vermillion said with a sense of vigor as she charged in.

"SCARE SHOT!" Selene yelled as a dark purple mist came out. Marta was surprised to hear and see that Selene could use magic.

"Magic!? Selene could use magic!?" Marta said is surprise. To her knowledge, only Elves and Half-Elves could use magic. Although, under special circumstances, humans can use magic too.

"Look, I'm surprised myself, but we have a mission to do. Let's head inside and rescue the captives." Azure said to Marta, clearly trying to keep her surprised tone down as she focused on the task at hand.

"Right, let's do it Azure." Marta replied with confidence as she and Azure quickly snuck into the tent...


Marta's Dream [Hakonesia Peak Outskirts, Noble's Tent]

...And as the two snuck in, they hid behind the crates as the chaos unfolded outside of the tent. Marta and Azure could feel the ground shake and tremor alone. However, they knew someone would notice the gap in the back eventually and so Azure quickly, yet quietly, pulled the gap in.

"Good thinking Azure..." Marta whispered as Azure gave an affirming nod as they crawled along the ground and pepped up to see one of the nobles. He was wearing clean refined clothes and had slick black hair, looking on edge as he's seeing the conflict going on outside. Eventually a servent got knocked into the tent and as he stopped sliding in, he got up to see the frightened noble...

"What in the world's going on out there!? Is it those Vanguard ruffians!?" The noble bellowed as the servent got himself organized and spoke up.

"N-no, it's these six women that are attacking us, yet one of them is the red haired woman you told me master..." The servent answered his boss as he dusted himself off and prepared himself for what's to come next.

"What!? So that shrew came out of hiding did she!? Get back out there and snap that Sylveranti banshee's neck! NOW!" The noble roared furiously as the servent rushed back out the tent. Hearing such a violent threat gave Marta and Azure both chills. Looking at him, he didn't look like he could fight very well and yet...

"I can't use my gun, it's not very quiet and I haven't installed the stun feature yet. We need to do something..." Azure whispered to Marta, explaining that firing her gun wouldn't be a good idea as it would blow their cover and kill the man in question. It was then Marta noticed what appeared to be a champagne bottle next to her...

"You monster! How could you give him such a horrid order!" Said a girl with brown hair and is dressed in a cowgirl uniform as she looked incensed at the noble in question. She appeared to have a type a cloth around her neck, having fallen loose.

"Oh... the gag fell off didn't it. If you must know, that witch got in our way last time along with the Vanguard's Commander. That's why we waited for every one of their Unit's to leave as we grab some of the finest woman around that backwater town. You should be grateful you won't be rotting with the rest of that uncivilized town." The noble replied, letting out his racist views on Palmacosta and Sylverant as a whole. Hearing this filled Marta and Azure with anger as they heard the words of this black hearted bigot. Marta noticed he was walking toward her and realized that there's an opening to knock him out.

"Azure, keep a look out..." Marta whsipered as she grabbed the bottle and and immediately went to one side and preparing to sneak behind him, despite the looks of objection from Azure.

'What is she doing!?' Azure thought to herself as she turned her eyes back to the noble and the girl as they argued more.

"Don't you dare talk about our town like that! Zelos Wilder and the other Tethe'allans among the Heroes of World Regeneration never treated us with disdain and hatred, so why!?" The girl argued back, bringing up the Heroes of World Regeneration, including Zelos Wilder. Marta had heard that he's one of Lloyd's companions and thus, is one of the few good Tethe'allan people as a result. Despite her dislike of Colette, she figured this Zelos isn't a bad guy if he's a friend of theirs, but she's not focused on that right now.

"Oh, I heard about our so called "Chosen", treating this country as if they're our equals! Never mind the fact that three other Tethe'allans would even consider them equals disgusts me! They don't even deserve to be called Tethe'allans!" The noble argued back as Marta slowly snuck up behind him. The girl noticed her, but didn't say anything and continued to argue with the noble.

"At least it shows that they have something that you don't have! A heart!" The girl argured further as Marta realized she's giving her a bigger window to strike. However, as Marta got near, she started to shake and hesitate as she begun hearing her own heart beat from fear and anxiety. Yes, she's angry with what this awful man's is saying and doing, but can she really hurt this man? What if she took delight in doing so? The thought alone scared her, but she knows that she can't let this go on.

"They're traitors and that's all they'll ever be! Once the Chosen system is abolished, nothing will protect Zelos and his accursed sister! They will share the same fate as your so called "Chosen"! As for you, I will put you to good work myself and perhaps use you for other purposes..." The noble said with an evil grin as he rubbed the girl's cheek with his hand. At this point, Marta took a deep breath and steeled her heart as she lifted the bottle over her head and swung it down on the noble's head.

*THWACK!*

With that, the noble fell to the ground unconscious with a big bump on his head. When it was all said and donw, Marta took a couple of breathes in, trying to calm herself down from what she needed to do. It was then she realized that she didn't enjoy doing this, which relieved her that she wasn't anything like Alice despite her hatred of the noble in question. With that, Marta dropped the bottle and looked to Azure...

"Azure, help me untie the captives before he wakes up or someone else comes!" Marta whispered loudly to the blue haired women as she ran out.

"Marta, you're the craziest girl I've ever met! But, you got guts, I'll give you that!" Azure replied with a mix of worry and awe as she helped Marta untie three of the six women.

"D-did you come to rescue us?" The brown haired girl asked Marta.

"Yes, we're from the Vanguard Ms...?" Marta replied to the girl in question as she help remove the ropes from her.

"Chocolat. My name is Chocolat and you are?" The girl known as Chocolat answered to Marta, while also asking for her name in return.

"My name is Marta Lualdi and this is Azure." Marta introduced herself and Azure as she finished untying her and two of the women next to her.

"Lualdi? Does that mean your Brute Lualdi's daughter?" Chocolat asked Marta with a look of surprise and concern, which the young girl understood. After all, the Vanguard is under watch from Palmacosta's Vigilante Army...

"I understand your concerns and I can respect any misgivings you may have with the Vanguard, but the important thing now is getting you and the others to safety." Marta replied as the five women agreed amongst themselves that they need to leave with Chocolat nodding in agreement.

"Yes, I agree. But how will we get out of here with the other nobles and their men outside?" Chocolat asked Marta as she doesn't have a clue to sneak out without getting caught or killed in the crossfire.

"We snuck in through a gap at the side of this tent, please follow me and Lady Marta, quickly!" Azure whispered loudly as she, Marta, Chocolat and the five other maidens quickly snuck out the way they came in and into the forest. With that, Azure pulled out her gun and fired in the air once. While the maidens where started and confused, Marta knew it was meant to signal the others to retreat.

'Scarlet, everyone, I hope you'll catch up soon.' Marta thought to herself as she prayed for the safety of her Unit, especially Scarlet since the nobles want her dead most of all.


Marta's Dream [Dynasty Ruins Entrance]

Eventually, Marta and Azure retreated to the one place they and the others have some knowledge off, the Dynasty Ruins, located within the Kamisra Mountains, nearby Palmacosta. They all agreed to head to this location to lose the nobles and their men as the nobles of Tethe'allan have little knowledge of this place and even little reason to come here.

"We should be safe here for the moment. Once the rest of our Unit arrives, we'll head down to Palmacosta." Azure reassured the captured maidens as they are in awe at where they are at.

"These the Dynasty Ruins. That means we're around the Kamisra Mountains!" One of the maidens noted as she and the others looked on in amazement. While they were chatting away, Marta took the time to look at the ruins as she placed a hand on one of the pillars as the water rushed by.

'The Sylvarant... Dynasty...' Marta thought to herself as she recalled what Brute and Lily said to her, the story of an ancient period 800 years ago before Sylvarant and Tethe'alla became one. The Sylvarant Dynasty became what it was thanks to the efforts of Sylverant's first Chsoen, a women named Spiritua. Despite being the first Chosen, Spiritua was successful in her Journey of World Regeneration, spurring the evangelism of the doctrine. To this day, many books of her journey exist to thie very day, the notable of which is the Book of Regeneration, which chronicles Spiritua's Journey specifically alongside the Spiritual Apocrypha. Sadly, despite Spiritua being hailed as a heroine in Sylvaran, Tethe'alla viewed her as a monster known as the "Angel of Death, since there world was in decline at the time. There was even rumors of there being a second Spiritua from Tethe'alla that oppressed the Chruch of Martel and supposedly slain a king to prevent Tethe'alla from killing Sylverant's Chosen.

Regardless of what happened in Tethe'alla, Spiritua's deed allowed Sylvarant to experience a time of glory and prosperity which became known as the Sylvarant Dynasty, with these ruins being of of the palaces that was constructed during this era. Sadly, despite Spiritua's success, numerous Chosen from Tethe'alla began succeeding while Sylvarant's Chosen begain to fail. As a result, the Mana Flow reversed itself and gain and extended era of prosperity while Sylvarant began to decline while the Sylvarant Dynasty crumbled. Apparently, Brute and his father were descendants of this Ancient Dynasty and since Marta herself is Brute's daughter, she has the ancient bloodline flowing through her veins as well. This was the reason most people avoided Brute during his younger years as they were too nervous or afraid to approach him on top of his gruff personality. The one person who wasn't afraid or nervous was Lily Mayfield, a spirited young girl who grew close with the young man in question, telling him that his connection with the ancient dynasty has no bearing on who he is now and they even passed these words of knowledge onto her.

'Daddy, why do you think we need to revive the Dynasty to ensure peace?' Marta thought to herself, wondering why Brute needed to revive the ancient dynasty they were a part of. She didn't know where he got the idea from, but she couldn't help he got the idea some time after she returned and met Richter, who joined sometime after she went on a journey.

"Excuse me, Ms. Lualdi?" Chocolat asked Marta, snapping her out of her thoughts as the young girl turned to the young lady behind her.

"Yes Ms. Chocolat? And please, call me Marta. There's no need to be formal." Marta replied with a slight giggle, as she feels a little nervous with the formal talk.

"Then you can refer to me as just Chocolat. I wanted to thank you properly for rescuing me and the others. I'm not sure what my mother would have done if something happend to me..." Chocolat said as she looked at the rushing water in contemplation.

"You're welcome, it's the least I can do. If you don't mind me asking, why would only your mom be worried about you?" Marta asked the young woman in regards to her mother. Fortunately, it appears she wasn't kidnapped along with her daughter, but it must have been worrying her sick knowing her own child was kidnapped.

"Ah... you see... she's all I have left of my family ever since my father was murdered by the Desians. Even my grandmother was a victim of their cruel experiments... all because we disobeyed and rebelled against them and their cruel ways..." Chocolat said bitterly as Marta understood where she came from. Although Marta wasn't as strong as her mom or dad, she too gaine the strength to disobey the Desians thanks to the courage her own parents taught her.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry to hear that... to be honest with you, my family weren't taken by Desians... but I know what it's like to lose family... I lost my mother a year ago when Palmacosta was destroyed..." Marta told Chocolat as she tried to not let thoughts of Colette make things tense between them. For all Marta knew, Chocolat could have been one of her supporters and she had no intention of letting that drive a wedge between them.

"I... I see... I'm sorry to hear about that. This may upset you, but I don't think Colette intended to let that happen..." Chocolat said in response. She's right that it did upset Marta, but it's possible that she might be right. What Marta is hearing about Colette are rumors and until she hears it from her mouth, she can't take the words as gospel.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your dad and grandma too... and thank you for your condolences for my mom..." Marta gave her condolences to Chocolat as they looked at the water running through the cannals of this empty palace.

"Thank you Marta, and you're welcome..." Chocolat said as she gave her a small smile to the young girl and that smile alone brought a sense of pride, content and fulfillment to Marta's soul. If there was one thing Marta learned from Brute and Lily, helping other people made Marta feel good inside and that's one reason why Marta can't stand injustice being done. She just wants things to be right in this world, why she views things in black and white. Regardless, Marta truly wants to make things better and saving these maidens was just her first major step after helping her father rebuild Palmacosta.

"I'm also sorry if we're not the people you wanted to be saved by... the Vanguard I mean..." Marta apologized for a completely different thing, but she's aware that there are Sylveranti for don't like the Vanguard in regards to their more military style approach, however Chocolat looked at her calmly and not with disdain.

"It's true I'm not fond of what the Vanguard is doing, but I can tell you're a good person and truly want to help others in spite of what they're doing. Besides, in the past, I didn't accept help when I needed it, assuming my would be rescuers to be evil... but I was wrong and I learned to listen to both sides of the story before making a judgment." Chocolat said with wise words, but Marta didn't understand what Chocolat was getting at.

"What do you mean? Who didn't you accept help from?" Marta asked the young woman, wanting to know what happened to make Chocolat say this.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about it. But you don't need to apologize for being with the Vanguard." Chocolat replied to the young girl. While Marta wanted to know more about Chocolat, she just smiled and nodded in reply, deciding not to pry any further.

"Lady Marta! We're back!" Yelled a familiar voice that sounded similar to Emerald. Hearing it, Marta rushed out and to her great joy, Scarlet, Emerald, Topaz, Vermillion, Lavender and Selene all came back. While they were roughed up a bit, they had no serious injuries and are all alive.

"Everyone! You're okay!" Marta shouted as she ran to her Unit and greated them with Azure and the six maidens following behind them. Marta wanted to try and hug them, but didn't think it was appropriate for a Captain to do so, however...

"Come on you gals, bring it in!" Topaz said as she pulled Emerald and Selene in with Marta and Lavender joining the group hug while Scarlet, Azure and Vermillion joined in with some slight hesitance. With this, there first mission is a complete success.


Marta's Dream [Palmacosta - Vangurad HQ, Brute's Office]

After escorting Chocolat and the other maidens home and after Vermillion gave the recorded evidence to a member of the Vanguard to deliver to Melktokio discreetly, Marta and her Unit came to Brute's office to report on the situation. By the time they came back to Palmacosta, Richter, Alice and Decus also returned from their missions and were informed by Brute by what transpired. When Brute was preparing to speak up, Marta noticed Richter watching calmly, Deucs looking nervous for her and Alice just smiling smugly as if Marta did something awful. Marta didn't understand why Alice would want her to get in trouble, but it just upset her.

"Marta... what you planned out was very reckless... you could have just sent Emerald inside to rescue the women instead of going in there yourself..." Brute said with a mixture of worry and frustration. Marta stood there trying hard to put on a brave face. Marta understood that she may have ruined her chance to show her father that she'll be okay, but knew it was worth it to save Chocolat and the others.

"Not only that, you put yourself at risk, knowing full well that Tethe'allan noble could have done something terrible to you and your Unit if something went wrong!" Brute said, raising his voice slightly as Marta tried her best to keep her fear down. However, Brute then calmed himself down and continued...

"And yet... you and your Unit still saved those women and all came back alive. Furthermore, you even took advice from one of your own members. While I don't think appeasing Tethe'alla's king will do anything about the nobles or Tethe'alla as a whole, you still listened to your Unit, took their advise, understood their strengths and made sure that everyone made it out safely..." Brute said with a soft smile to his daughter, surprising Marta slightly. Wasn't he angry that she put her own life at risk?

"However, I don't want you to risk yourself recklessly like that again. Thay aside, it doesn't change the fact that you've done an extraordinary thing here today my daughter... and that I couldn't be more proud of you.." Brute replied once more with a soft smile. His anger at Marta's Plan wasn't one of disappointment, but of worry and love. Marta's eyes teared up slightly before she turned to her Unit, who all smiled at their captain with pride.

"Wha... what...?" Marta heard Alice slightly whisper. As Marta looked to her, the Combat Captain was clearly holding her posture, yet sounded disbelieving all the same. Decus put a hand on her shoulder while giving an appreciative smile in secret to Marta. Richter just readjusted his glasses, yet gave silent acknowledgement to Marta.

"Commander Brute... thank you." Marta replied in a formal tone to her father with a grateful smile, taking this praise to heart as her father smiled back as his daughter with pride and yet...

'Something tells me he'll scold me later... when we're alone...' Marta thought, knowing she was going to get an earful later.


[Palmacosta - Vangurad HQ, Mess Hall]

After the report, Marta and her Unit went to the Mess Hall to celebrate their success with Vermillion making a pot of Risotto for their celebratory meal. As they waited for the food to simmer, Marta decided to speak up.

"Everyone, I want to thank you for helping me out with this. I was worried about how this would go, but I'm glad we all came back alive." Marta said to her Unit with happiness and relief.

"It's no problem Lady Marta, that's why I joined the Special Unit. Besides, you should have seen us! It'll take more then a bunch of clowns to take US down! I even saw Emerald knock a guy's tooth out!" Scarlet said as she remembered that they knocked out most of the noble's servents with no issues.

"Scarlet! Don't tell her that! It was so gross!" Emerald squealed in disgust at the memory as most of the other girls except Marta and Selene laughed.

"But you're a ninja... aren't ninjas supposed to deal with gore and viscera?" Selene asked bluntly as Emerald shook her head in disgust. After everyone had a good laugh, Marta resumed what she had to say...

"I was thinking that we should make a vow..." Marta followed up as the other girls looked at their captain in curiosity.

"What would that be Lady Marta?" Lavender asked as she squeezed her ball in wonder.

"That we'll always do our best to help the Sylveranti going forward as the Vanguard Special Unit! To help innocent people and bring peace and end the conflict between both worlds." Marta explained what their should be their vow to help out going forth. Marta then whispered something to the seven girls, something that took them by surprise...

"Really? You want us to do that?" Azure asked in wonder with Marta nodded in affirmation.

"Why not? Sounds cool. Alright Lady Marta, take it away!" Topaz replied to Marta as the eight girls got up from their seats and gathered in a circle with their weapons in hand while Vermillion allowed Marta to use her shield for what they are about to recite.

"We will use all of our abilities to help and protect the people of Sylvarant, for we are the Vanguard Special Unit!" The eight girls all said as they said the vow they they agreed on as they all drew their weapons and raised it above their heads with Marta managing to rase Vermillion's shield along with them.

"All for one and one for all!" Marta and the seven girls chanted in unison, signifying their newfound unity, like the Four Brave Musketeers of old.

Ever since that day, The Special Unit began helping out with the citizens and performing occasional fieldwork, providing confort for those who need it. While they never rose to the same levels as the Combat or Espionage Units, they took pride in what they did best despite not being as well known, even as Marta's concerns with the Vanguard came to pass. With that, everything began to turn white...


Caravan [Morning]

Morning broke as the sun shined and the birds chirped. Marta rose from her slumber and stretched outward with a satisfied grunt as she recalled her first day and mission with her Unit.

'Wow, that sure brought back memories.' Marta thought to herself as she looked around the campsite to notice no one has woken up yet. She then turned to find Tenebrae sleeping nearby.

'Tenebrae's back. I... wonder if anyone aside Emerald will help... I can't blame them if they don't want to, but...' Marta thought sadly to herself, but she must stand tall like she did back then.

'I just hope Tenebrae won't be mad at me for telling Nova the truth.' Marta thought to herself as she looked out to the bright horizon as a new day, and the next page in Marta's life, is about to begin...

To Be Continued...


With that, The Flashback Arc has concluded! Apologies if this was drawn out, but hopefully everything here made sense in context. Now we know how Marta met and worked alongside the Special Unit!

Next time we meet with Marta, she and Tenebrae will have some major discussions as they plan out the next step of their Journey.

See you later!

UPDATE: Altered the last portion to make it flow better and make it less awkward.

UPDATE 2: Some minor editing to tie things with the Successors of Hope Novel.