“Milord?”
Jack narrowed his eyes, his gaze staring out into the distance as a frown plagued his features.
“Milord?” Jessica repeated, this time positioning herself in front of Jack who stood with crimson ichor dripping from his hands.
The landing platform was silent, devoid of life besides Jack and Jessica as everyone else had vanished to spare themselves the screams of the tormented.
Even the Black Rose, agents whose duty was it to capture and interrogate foes of the empire stepped away as the screams echoed into the air.
Finally, Jack’s eyes shifted to his adjutant, the woman startled by the gaze she received, almost as if the boy she had once known was now peering into her soul.
“What?” Jack said deadpan, his tone devoid of any emotion.
“What do you want us to do with the bodies?”
Tied up and lifeless, dozens of corpses littered the platform with the once pristine floor slick with blood.
“Nothing, tend to the children. Destroy all relevant research, I want all systems not related to the city’s propulsion destroyed,” Jack ordered, suddenly overcome with a need for air.
Jessica hesitated, “But, her Majesty-”
“I have all the relevant information we require. Destroy it, Lieutenant. Destroy it all. Nothing good will come of that data,” Jack said softly before donning his helmet, spreading his wings and taking flight.
“Sir? Sir!” Jessica called out but it was too late, Jack was in the air and gone.
“Thank you, Jack,” Lilith said out of the blue as Jack aimed himself towards the airship in the distance and went slow.
“Don't mention it,” Jack replied, ignoring his HUD that began to beep repeatedly.
A call from Python, no doubt to berate him for his actions.
Jack ignored it and aimed himself upward, soaring into the air at top speed until the cold touch on his skin made him numb.
He was above the clouds now, floating, his eyes gazing out into the distance where one could almost believe that all the terrors of the world were non-existent.
Tranquility, to summarize the experience, a view many would never see in their life.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sahaqiel asked, materializing beside Jack.
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“It is,” Jack replied, taking his helmet off to take in the thin air. “I see why you were always on the move, staying away from the troubles of the world.”
“Up here there's no one to bother you, no troubles to weigh you down.”
“Yeah…” Jack said, floating aimlessly in the sky.
“So… what are you going to do?” Sahaqiel asked, hugging Jack and doing her best to comfort him. “Speak to me, Jack.”
“I’m unsure. All I know is that I need to find Jill, if they were willing to do this to children…” Jack shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to his sister. Fortunately, none of the technicians that Jack had interrogated had memories of his sister, so… there was hope. Faint, but it was there. “Sara, I don't know what I would do if something happened to my sister. And… If they did do something to her… promise me that-”
“Nothing will-” Sahaqiel began but was cut off as Jack turned to her. “I'll do what needs to be done. I promise.”
“You won't be alone,” Lilith said, the raven specter showing herself. “Come what may, I'll be there for you.”
“Me,” Ruby added, the rare spoken word by the knight causing Jack to smile slightly.
“Thank you,” Jack said as an imperial dropship appeared into view with Python radioing him once more. "These apostles... the angels. What happened to them all?"
"I... I'm unsure. Remember I died, I wouldn't know what happened after..." Sahaqiel replied, an answer Jack expected but wasn't hoping for.
"Right..."
*****
5 Days Later:
Southern Front: 12 Miles outside Windermere City.
Captain Colette Gemini scowled, the short-haired blonde with red eyes frowning as she read the reports beneath lamp light inside her concrete bunker.
Selfia's army was closing in, marching through the dunmass marshes with heavy land ships and walkers in tow.
What was supposed to be a counter offensive to catch the Selfians off guard had ended in a bloody reversal.
Poor logistics, lack of winter clothing, and deserters had put Roland on the back foot, not to mention the Selfian’s newly unleashed orbital array smacking down on Roland positions and decimating all unshielded locations.
Cities across the empire were burning, set aflame with causalities mounting by the hour.
Several city states had already capitulated, even the nobles that had stood by Roland from the beginning were now submitting to Selfian forces.
This was the end, but even now, Colette wouldn't surrender.
As a Knight of House Light, her duty was to fight for her family, to fight for those that had given her everything she had.
Without them, she would still be some orphan girl starving in the streets, or worse, fodder in one of the kindersoldat groups. She owed them everything for what they had done.
Colette frowned.
Still… not a day went by that she didn't regret being there for her daughter. The lonely nights of explosions filled her with stray thoughts, day dreams, and sometimes even nightmares of the future she abandoned.
But it was better this way. She was unfit to be a mother, truth be told she never wanted a child and didn't know the first thing about even caring for a one.
War however, this she knew.
Fortunately, the winter snap and geography of the region had bought her masters time, but it was nowhere what she needed to fully secure the Light House.
“Captain,” Lieutenant Hoffman said, her adjutant stepping into the dugout bunker. “King Roland has arrived and Regalia Isabella has called for you.”
Colette sighed, “Understood, Lieutenant, have the maintenance teams run diagnostics on the shield generators, the last thing we need is Selfian hellfire raining down on us.”
“Yes ma’am,” The man snapped a salute before turning to his duties.
Colette rolled her shoulders, turning around to go and tend to her duties as a Knight of House Light.