Raven woke up. He looked at the mirror and saw himself. He was still a mess. He looked horrible. he looked so dull.

Wow. That's the first time he's ever said something like that about his look. He then looked down, feeling the shame in his heart. He remembered back when he was going to groom himself, fix himself up. He didn't feel like doing it now. Besides, it's not like...

Then again, he might as well do it. For Ayre.

Raven looked through the cabinets, where he found a razor, comb, and some other materials for grooming. He then looked back at himself in the mirror. He hadn't done this in so long he just wasn't sure... He was sure he could remember it.

His pitch black hair went a little below his shoulders. He had some hairs on his chin and upper lip. Well, he might as well look "presentable" in front of the Liberation Front.

It took a while, but the young man eventually got the hang of it.

His hair was soon enough cut short. The little hairs on his face were shaved off clean. Raven stared at himself and smirked with pride. It was the best he could do.

...

Forty minutes and one humiliating and well-deserved tongue-lashing from Flatwell later, Rusty found himself unleashed on RLF Remote Outpost Epsilon in more ways than one. He had nowhere to go and nothing to do, not unless Flatwell rustled up the punishment duty he'd threatened, so there was nothing stopping him from going wherever he wanted.

As soon as he figured out where that was.

Out of the corner of his eye, he recognized one of the men coming down the hallway towards him as the medical assistant he'd passed on his way out of the hangar, and that made up his mind for him.

"Excuse me, brother," Rusty said as he stepped in front of the man—the kid, really, young enough he'd have still been learning his letters when Rusty shipped out all those years ago. "I hear you were there when they opened up Raven's AC, right?"

The young man scowled as he gave Rusty's Arquebus flight-suit and jacket the stink-eye, but grudgingly answered, "The so-called, 'Liberator of Rubicon?' Yeah, I was there. What's it to you?"

"Is he all right? How badly was he hurt, from the fight I mean?"

The kid scoffed. "He wasn't hurt, just half-asleep. Kept making rude gestures every time we hit a bump."

Rusty couldn't help the relieved giggle that escaped his mouth. "Well then. That's... good. He still in the infirmary?"

"Yeah. Margot gave him one of the private rooms. A2."

"Thanks."

He moved aside to head down to the infirmary when the kid called out, "Hey. Asshole."

Rusty glanced back to find that he was indeed the one being addressed. "Yeah?"

"My brother was in the JUGGERNAUT when it went down."

The kid didn't wait for a response before he turned and continued on the way he'd been going, leaving Rusty poleaxed in the middle of the corridor. The few brothers and sisters of the Front nearby carefully avoiding looking at him as they went about their business.

Everything for the cause, everything for the cause, Rusty repeated to himself. No price too great; no life too small. Only freedom can light our way. Forged in ash, we stand as one. The old slogans worked about as well on his spirits as they had on the PCA.

The infirmary could wait. He needed to get these cursed colors off as soon as possible.

It was a very different Rusty who arrived at infirmary thirty minutes later, or so he told himself: One freshly showered and dressed in the heavy work clothes common to non-combat and off-duty personnel, RLF patches proudly displayed. It felt more false than the Arquebus colors he'd worn for the better part of a decade.

He'd betray Arquebus a thousand times over, a thousand secrets as deadly as any knife, but he had not a drop of their blood on his hands. The blood he'd spilled from his countrymen could fill a river.

He'd been so eager when the man he'd known from childhood as "Uncle" Flatwell had proposed the mission. The PCA's latest purge hadn't left enough of his village to indicate there had ever been a settlement there at all; His Uncle... not by blood, perhaps, but by the bonds between his parents and their friend... had been the one to dig him out of the rubble.

He'd been lost, angry at the world, at his parents for leaving him, at himself for surviving and his Uncle for saving him. He'd been empty. Adrift. Hollow.

He'd clung to the offer of vengeance like a drowning man to driftwood. The mission had given him purpose, something to rebuild his life around. It had been so easy to replace that traumatized, broken shell of a boy with something else, someone else.

The perfect Vesper. The perfect spy.

Calling Rusty a facade implied there was something else beneath it, and Rusty knew he had blended in as well as he had because there was nothing of his old self left to hide.

The monster that young RLF volunteer had seen in the hall was the same one that Rusty still saw in the mirror, RLF colors or no. He'd been a fool to expect anything else.

...

Rusty grabbed the food from the cafe and sat on a table. The food had been getting better. Thank goodness he doesn't need to eat anymore meal worms. He'll never admit it out loud, but he will miss Arquebus' cafe food.

However, with some of the small drops of Coral that the RLF were able to get their hands on, the corps have been growing much more easier.

The young man looked around the mostly empty table. Not too many people had wanted to sit at the same table as long as he was on it.

He ultimately wouldn't blame them. However, it was still frustrating. How would they like to have taken this mission? Besides, it wasn't the RLF's ideas of apparently making it all real. It was Arquebus', or, to an extent. Snail, despite treating everyone like they're so below him, he'd still keep a dead eye on them, one of them being Rusty most of all.

Sometimes he feels like the RLF are so ungrateful that it was at least him who leaked some information. Not to mention that he purposely missed his direct shots on his own people.

He then looked over to Raven's table. It was even more empty, in fact, entirely empty.

Raven seemed to have a small change of clothes:

He was now wearing a black jacket with red trimming: There were vertical stripes on the sleeves going down. The wrists were red. The black upper lapel had a red outline while the lower lapel was completely red.

On top of his red shirt with two short vertical "II" shaped red stripes at the center was a necklace with "TI" shape.

His black belt with a silver buckle on it. Below all that was a pair of black pants. Black high combat boots with red trimming such as red laces and red soles.

Rusty also spotted his more fresh look. His mid-length hair and small hairs were all taken care of. Could use more work but Rusty could tell that his little buddy had done whatever he could for that girl of his.

Rusty let out a small smile. He looked just right for that "Ayre" person. They'd go just fine with each other. And furthermore-

He suddenly felt someone shove his head down, causing his face to get smothered with the food.

"Take that, 'hero,'" said the boy.

Rusty felt his temper lesson up as he got up, wiping the food off his face. Thank goodness I missed the potatoes... he thought needlessly. His hands gripped onto the boy's collar.

"Listen, kid," he said, "You think I wanted to take the mission?!"

The boy gave off a taunting smirk. "Go ahead, 'Rusty of the Rubiconions.' Continue your kill count. Make it bigger."

"You act as if I didn't pulled the trigger." said a voice.

Everyone turned to see Raven, staring at the kid. Rusty let the boy go, watching him suddenly beginning to pant almost aggressively.

"You... dog..." the boy growled, "Had I been given an AC, I would've taken you down!"

He then charged at the mercenary, who with pure ease, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him down against the table, causing it to snap in half and everyone getting off of their seats. The boy looked at him with fear in his eyes. However, he tried to mask it. "Go ahead! Kill me like you killed my brother!"

Raven then let go of him as he shoved him down. The boy coughed as he gripped his throat.

"At least Rusty didn't destroy the STRIDER, nor the JUGGERNAUT," said Raven, "Be grateful that I'm on your side."

He then walked away, and the boy was left alone, watching as some of the people shook their heads towards him. They then left him alone, causing him to weep by himself.

...

Raven and Rusty walked over to one of the many hallways. Eventually, Rusty turned his head out the younger pilot.

"Thanks for having my back," he thanked.

Raven only continued to look forward. "No problem. It should be me they should be growling at. Not you. You didn't have a choice, but nevertheless, you were forced to fight your own kind. Me? I have no kind here. I had a choice."

It was almost surprising to hear a voice coming out of the silent mercenary's mouth to Rusty. However, he could tell that Raven must be talking to himself more, as he could tell that his voice was already getting softer by the minute.

Although, it's only been a few weeks since the younger pilot had come out of surgery. So Rusty didn't have too many high expectations of hearing his buddy's voice more frequently.

...

Carla stood as she leaned against the railing as they stared off into the next day's rising sun. Chatty happened to be standing right next to her. They both had to admit that they were grateful that Raven chose to spare them

"So, chief," asked Chatty, "How's our tourist?"

"Unable to talk, a bit shaky." explained Carla, "However, I do believe that he is going to be okay."

Carla could understand that it would be apparently hard for the Handler to start calling Raven "he/him" again, or really scratch that word "again" off. For Walter never really met the young man as an ordinary human.

But also, being a handler for mercenaries, he wasn't allowed to get attached to them. But it seemed that Raven had unintentionally found his way into his heart anyway.

"Well, could be worse," said Carla.

"I'm not sure if it already is worse." said Chatty, looking at her, "The Coral remains intact and breathing. It's still very dangerous."

"Yeah, no shit. However, our little raven's gotta have a reason for leaving it alone."

"I suppose."

The two then looked back at the rising sun. They needed to be sure that what Raven did was hopefully the right thing. The Coral is still dangerous. However, when it comes to this "Ayre," maybe perhaps they can find a way, maybe.

...

Ayre woke up, finding herself in a room that she didn't recognize at first. Then she remembered; After Raven had fallen asleep, she decided to get some rest herself, going to the room next to his.

However, she still kept their ability to keep contact and speak telepathically.

She grabbed her crutches and started moving her way out of the room. She went to go inside Raven's room, only to notice that he wasn't there. She looked around to see no one else other than Rusty yawning as he walked past by.

"Hey, Rusty?" she asked.

"Yeah, comrade?" replied Rusty.

"Do you happen to know where Raven may have gone?"

"I do. He 'told' me through his sign language stuff that he was going out or something. Said probably outside the place or something."

Ayre furrowed an eyebrow, wondering what Raven would be doing outside. She then decided to head out there. Rusty ended up following her; He wanted to see what his buddy was up to himself too as well.

They walked past WING OF RESOLUTION, still being repaired from its battle with SOLE SURVIVOR, Walter's recently named AC back on the falling Xylem.

They both wondered if Raven would ever step into that thing again. Rusty hoped that if he was going too, it'd better not be through a Gen 4 augmentation. He'd hate to see a broody Raven again.

The two ended up splitting up once they reached outside. Ayre slowly found herself walking towards Chatty and Carla.

She tensed up. She'd feel so much better if Raven was here, that way he could protect her. But then again, she could just simply walk past them, and hopefully their conversation would somehow make it too loud for them to hear her crutches. But they ended up hearing her anyway.

They turned to her. Chatty had a bit of a his stern look while Carla smiled.

"Well look what we got here." said Carla, "Raven's little operator. Your looks most certainly match your voice."

Ayre's eyes widened as she slightly blushed at that compliment. She hoped she could get one from Raven very soon. That's... assuming she can even find him first, which brought her to her next action.

"Thanks, um have you by any chance seen Raven?" she asked.

"Ah, our little tourist." said Carla, "Actually, I could've sworn that I saw the young man walk somewhere to where that amazing WING OF RESOLUTION is."

Ayre wondered what he was going to do. According to some records she happened to find, so very few can actually pilot an AC without augmentation, but when it comes to combat certainties, it can be quite... complicated.

Was he going to pilot the AC without augmentation?

...

Ayre, Carla, Chatty, and Rusty went to WING OF RESOLUTION's hangar. However, they didn't spot him there and Chatty confirmed that he was not in there. Thank goodness Raven wasn't that crazy.

Ayre soon felt his presence elsewhere. The others followed her until they reached one particular spot once again outside. It was a zone somewhere near the base. It also seemed to have... grass apparently. Probably the only bit of actual life on this forsaken planet.

There they saw him.

The boy stood there in front of what seemed to be four graves. Carla realized where this place was, for he happened to have just visited this place too as well. He looked down, looking almost ashamed.

"What's going on here?" asked Rusty.

"This is where I buried Walter. And also 617, 620, 619..." said Carla slowly, "Raven's former squad."

A small gasp escaped from Ayre's mouth as she looked from Carla to Raven with concern clearly present on her face. She watched Raven place down some flowers by all three of the graves. The girl started to walk towards him calmly and slowly.

No one knew that Raven had a team. So, is this what that little flare of hatred was when they encountered the CATAPHRACT?

Then she remembered something about those numbers. Something she happened to see in Walter's records. Apparently, they all died in some kind of as Walter put it "trial and error" mission.

He was trying to see just who was the best one of them all, and 621 happened to be that one.

Ayre watched as Raven turned with a similar tone in his attitude. He saw her walk to him while the other three decided to give them some privacy.

"Raven," said Ayre as she cupped his cheeks, "I may not know what pain you're going through, but I assure you, everything will be alright. Can you believe me?"

The boy looked down. He didn't know. He really didn't. Even after all they've been through. Could he still have a chance to become human again? Yes. He believes he could. He just... needs the people to help him. He can't do it alone.

He turns to Ayre. His lips twitched. He keeps trying, but Ayre stops him.

"Please, Raven. It's okay." she assured, "Don't forget, we can tell what we feel."

Raven's tears began to come down. He knew that. He just knew that Ayre can't wait forever to see him finally smiling. He needed to keep trying, but that's for another time. He then hugged her surprisingly.

"We're all here for you, Raven." Ayre promised, "We will never let anything happen to you."

Raven laughed lightly. It was almost ironic that he had been the one mostly protecting them for so long. And now, it's their turn to look after him. He'll find a way. They'll all, similar to what Ayre said, find a way.

And just like before, they always do.

https://youtu.be/WEsibVKPNA0

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