In the skies, Outskirts of the Empire

“Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on!!!” Harvard yelled as he tore through the Empire’s formation, skillfully evading shots and returning them in kind. Ten minutes into the battle and he was already getting bored; the enemy simply had no pilot that could match his battle prowess. He fired a shot through a Doll’s cockpit, making it his fifth kill already. “Isn’t there anyone here worthy of my blade?” he screamed through a public channel, intimidating the already terrified soldiers.

****

“What do we do sir? We are losing too many men to that soldier,” Rick asked, and grimaced as another blip disappeared, signalling another loss.

Jacobson cursed under his breath; the differences in combat skills were even higher than he had feared. If care was not taken, they would be defeated in less than an hour.

“Pull up the Doll on the monitor,” he ordered and one of their soldier’s cameras relayed the image of their reaper. He sucked in his breath when the image came on the screen.

Harvard's Doll was designed solely for speed and attacks, thus no outer frame had been put on its skeleton. While it made the green suit faster, any little scratch could out-rightly kill the pilot. 'It held a plasma rifle in its hand but that was clearly his secondary weapon because a significantly large longsword rested on its back. Jacobson knew then, that whoever the pilot was, he was someone who had no fear of death; a trait most of his men lacked.  This meant there was only one way to fight the pilot.

“Order Bravo team to surround him, and use long ranged shots. He is fast so he will be capable of closing in quickly, but with that kind of speed, he will not be able to switch directions so easily. Aim for where he will be, not where he is. But do not aggressively attack him. Your mission is to keep him occupied until the angels arrive. Spirits guide you,” Jacobson ordered.

****

“Brook, Fren, on me!” Staff Sargent Mosa ordered as she got in formation around Harvard. “We have to babysit this son of a bitch for a while.”

“Roger,” Brook acknowledged as he pulled out his high pressure rifle and fired at Harvard, disengaging him from another soldier.

“If I get him, will you go out with me?” Fren joked as he too joined the triangle and pointed his rifle at Harvard.

“Fren focus. This guy seems to be trouble,” Brook condemned while he fired continuously at Harvard, who dodged them easily and returned fire, but Brook also dodged in kind.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Fren replied laughing and fired at Harvard’s back, but he back flipped above the blast and fired at all three soldiers consecutively.

In the brief moment where Fren dodged his blast, Harvard pulled out a sabre, accelerated and almost stabbed him, but he was forced to stop in order to dodge Mosa’s well-aimed shot. The pause gave Fren enough time to retreat quickly, and their collective shots forced Harvard back to the centre of their triangle.

“Not bad,” he acknowledged when they seized fire and sized each other up. “You guys might just be worthy of salvation,” he said as he fingered his sword, but did not draw it. “Now then, let’s see which of you will be saved,” he laughed as he dashed towards them.

****

The party leading Rosaline snuck out of the castle through a secret tunnel in the basement whose initial purpose was to let the royal family escape in times of crisis.

After a very long trek, they climbed a flight of stairs and emerged through a trapdoor. Crow flew out unnoticed and saw they had come out in a hangar; the royal hangar, it presumed, from the royal emblems on the aircrafts.

The soldiers entered a shuttle bus, and it decided to test his fate since it would not be able to track the craft once it was airborne.

Hoping against hope, it flew down and perched on Rosaline’s shoulder to her utmost surprise.

“Crow?!” she yelped when he landed on her, drawing the attention of her captors who eyed the bird suspiciously.

“Your call princess,” Crow whispered into her ear. “You can rat me out and let me get destroyed or you can pretend I’m your pet. What’s it going to be?”

One of the soldiers raised his hand to grab Crow but she backed away and glared at them. “He’s my pet. Don’t you lay a finger on him!” she ordered, though she was shaking from fright inside.

“I don’t think you understand your situation!” the soldier growled and reached for her in anger, but his captain tapped his shoulder.

“Relax. She just wants to take her bird along. In the state she’s in, she could use the company,” he said as he motioned for her to enter the shuttle.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully to the captain as she entered the vehicle.

“You’ll soon be cursing me,” he said sadly as he sat beside her. “Let’s go. We don’t have much time,” he commanded and the shuttle flew out of the hangar and into the sky.

****

“Don’t go!” Sora screamed as he snapped awake. He realized Rosaline had already left and punched the ground in anger. “Damn it! How could I let this happen?”

“Oi, kid, where’s the princess?” a tired and slightly familiar voice croaked behind him.

He turned around and his eyes widened in shock at Tau’s state. The young man was completely drenched in his own blood. His right eye was completely swollen, rendering it blind and his swollen lips had several cuts in them. He could barely walk and each step he made had a very pronounced limp preceding it.

“I asked you a question,” Tau said as he neared the boy.

Sora ran to him and offered to help him, but he refused and repeated his question.

“I lost her,” Sora whispered.

“You what?!” Tau shouted as he grabbed Sora’s collar with his good arm, but released him when he double over in a fit of bloody coughs.

“Stop talking!” Sora cried and laced Tau’s arm over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, since Crow’s not here, I’m sure he’s following her.”

“Who?” Tau asked as he resigned himself to Sora’s help.

“My friend. The hawk I was with when I came by earlier,” he replied as they walked slowly out of the basement.

“You have a tracker on your pet?” Tau asked and Sora stared at him like he had just given him the greatest idea in the world.

“Uh, not exactly, but I can communicate with him, so he can tell me where he is,” he replied.

“Well, do it then,” Tau requested.

“Hey, do you read me Crow?” Sora asked, placing a finger on the intercom in his ear. A few moments passed and he repeated the call continuously until Crow finally replied, though the signal was weak.

“Ah, sleeping beauty finally wakes up,” Crow replied, its voice barely over a whisper.

A vein popped in Sora’s head but he calmed himself since there were more important things to worry about. “Why are you whispering? I can hardly hear you enough as it is.”

“That’s because I’m surrounded by soldiers, dimwit. Did you forget I was escorting the princess or did you somehow assume I defeated them all with my foot long wings?”

“Okay, okay. Where are you now and why is the signal weak?”

“Ugh! I can’t believe I let you distract me. We’re flying to some ship called Warmonger. I’m guessing it’s their flagship. You better hurry up ‘cause we’ll soon get out of range.”

“I’ll get there as fast as I can,” he said and was about to end the transmission, but he remembered Tau. “Oh, and tell her I’ve got Tau. He’s in very bad shape but he should live.”

“I’ll let her know. You get here as fast as you can. I’ll keep an eye on things over here.”

“Be right there,” he said and the transmission ended. “You got all that?”

“I did,” Tau replied. “I’ll be fine so leave me here. You’ll get to her faster without having to drag me along.”

“Are you crazy? You’ll die!” Sora refuted. “There’s no way I’m leaving you behind.”

“Then what?” Tau spat impatiently, “Are you going to fight your way through the battle outside while carrying me?”

“No… I mean yes… I mean… I don’t know ok! But I can’t just leave you here to die!”

Tau chuckled involuntarily at Sora’s indecisiveness. “You’re a funny kid,” he said as he took his arm off Sora’s shoulder and rested on a wall. “Don’t worry about me kid. I made my bed, now I have to lie in it. And who knows, if the spirits will it, I won’t die.”

“Tch,” Sora cursed as he turned his back on Tau, “Promise me you won’t die.”

“I never make promises I can’t keep.”

“In that case, hold on just a little longer. I’m gonna send some help your way.”

“Thanks, but keep the princess as your primary objective.”

“Just hold on,” Sora said. With a determined look, he tore through the basement.

****

Imperial Star Hotel

Tsel tapped his rifle in anticipation of Sora’s call. He needed to shoot something to relieve him of the nightmare that had been plaguing even his waking moments. As if in answer to his distress, Sora’s voice broke crackled through his reciever.

“Tsel, do you read me?” Sora asked.

“Loud and clear,” he replied as he grabbed his rifle and ran out of the room.

“I’m still in the castle and I have someone injured but I need to go save the princess. Think you can shoot your way through and rescue him?”

“I'll get it done.” Tsel replied matter-of-fact. He packed up his equipment, then ran out of the hotel and towards the palace in a full sprint.

****

Sora took the stairs six at a time and barely registered Siegfried’s absence as he sped through the palace, his entire being focused on only one single task – rescuing Rosaline.

****

Jack used his cameo to stroll through the battle once again, unnoticed. He noticed Boa’s crew and sighed lazily. “I don’t feel like fighting again. Better just skirt around them,” he said and walked in arc around them.

“Seems we have a little pup that wants to run away,” Boa said with a wild grin as she suddenly turned around and fired a volley of missiles at Jack.

Though he was surprised, he was still prepared for such an outcome and he deftly weaved through the missiles and scoffed when they exploded behind him. His sudden movements turned off his camouflage and he looked at Boa with a bored expression. “Seems I won’t be leaving that easily,” he sighed and raised his fists as he entered a boxing stance.

“Seems, this puppy wants to play,” she laughed as she trained her weapons at him.

They glared at each other for a while, and she was about to fire when loud screams from the palace doors, punctuated by a loud boom caught their attention.

The field went silent as all eyes turned in curiosity to the smoky doorway at the top of the stairs.

Sora slowly stepped out of the smoke, his sword glowing against the dark background of smoke. He surveyed the field below him then got into a crouch, like he was about to start a race.

“Isn’t that…?” Jack pondered, shocked by the boy’s braveness to enter the battle.

Sora shot down the stairs with a loud war cry snapping the soldiers out of their reverie. Chaos returned to the field as they fought for a prize that was no longer within their reach.

A couple of Union soldiers ran towards him with their sabres drawn but he did not slow down in the least. With a cry, he sliced through the first of his attackers, and slashed the second’s legs, still keeping his pace. Two more came at him and he spun while running, parried the first sabre and slashed the soldier’s chest. He kicked the man and he rolled down the stairs tumbling the second one. Sora vaulted over both of them, and landed on the field.

“Heh?” Boa smirked. “Not bad, but let’s see just how good he is,” she said and fired a volley of guided missiles at him.

Sora slashed and dodged his way through the shocked army, noticed the missiles but still did not slow down.

“He’s going to get himself killed,” Jack mused, but shrugged as he made his way out of the castle grounds during Boa’s distraction. A Turk with a rifle sprinted past him, and he shook his head at the fool who was going to join a senseless war.

Meanwhile, Sora sliced the rockets in half while alternating between jumps, ducks and sidesteps to dodge a head on collision. He missed two missiles and they zoomed past him. He didn’t know they were guided so he didn’t pay attention to them once he passed them. Instead, his sights were now centered on Pierre and Rukh who were dashing towards him.

The missiles turned around and zipped towards him, to the delight of the generals, but they both suddenly disappeared when two shots passed through their centre.

Rukh and Pierre paused and turned around in bewilderment at who could with such accuracy.

Tsel butted a Revol with the butt of his rifle, shit another, flipped the weapon and crunched the lower jaw of a Union soldier with an uppercut swing. He ran past several soldiers, blasting his way through and Rukh charged at him, while Pierre charged at Sora.

Pierre drew his swords in preparation for his technique, but Sora, who had already lost all patience, accelerated with the mini-thrusters and punched him square in the face.

Sora’s hands remained buried in Pierre’s face, carrying him along as he tore across the field.

Tsel on the other hand, eyed Rukh and paused a step just before the bigger Turk slammed his weapon into the ground. He deftly jumped on the mallet side and vaulted over him. He did not turn back, but continued running, knowing the other Turk would not bother chasing down a fleeing opponent.

As he ran past Sora, he kicked Pierre’s legs, freeing him from Sora’s punch but he dropped to the ground, already fainted.

Rukh waited till Sora was right in front of him then swung an uppercut with his axe. Sora grabbed the weapon with his armored and used the momentum from the swing to launch himself into the air above a lot of soldiers and pirates including an enraged Rukh.

The lower ranked pirates and soldiers did not stand a chance as he danced through them, slicing the whole way. He looked up and saw Boa at the entrance to the castle with all her weapons trained at him and a large toothy grin, but before she could fire, Rudolph jumped on her.

“Calm down, Captain. You’re gonna kill us all if you fire that many at once,” he pleaded.

Sora used the opportunity to zoom past her and they two pirate captains shared a look that made them know, that was not the last time they would meet.

*****

“Hah, hah, hah, hah,” Fren panted, sweat drenching his uniform as he flexed his arms around his controls and glared at Harvard. He had been the main focus of Harvard’s attacks and it was a miracle he was still alive. Although the captain had had to take one for him.

“What a tough son of a bitch,” Mosa gritted. Her mobile suit had lost an arm to one of his shots but her gun arm, though slightly damaged was still operational.

“How much longer do we have to do this?” Fern asked.

“Until the angels arrive,” she replied.

“How long until then?”

“ETA thirty minutes,” Brook replied.

“You think we can survive that long?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Mosa rotted and resumed her attacks.

*****

Thousands of feet below them

The shuttle carrying Rosaline and Crow kept close to the sea to stay off the radars of the ships and mobile suits above them as they neared the Warmonger.