Code: ASSIMILATE

Kee quickly awoke as Marcia sounded the bell. He, like Serenity, was able to have a sound sleep, however unlike Serenity Kee wasn't in the best of moods. He was still troubled by the thought of having to fight such a talented general. But it has to happen sometime, if they were to help the Whitewings then they were sure to wind up against this Audrey person eventually. He grabbed his lute, which he kept by his side even as he slept, and came out the tent, rubbing his eyes then yawning.

Marcia turned and smiled again, seeing that quite a few of the people that weren't used to a soldier's schedule, the first of which was waking up at the crack of dawn, was up so early. Especially Silver, the magic boy she had deemed weak.

"Not bad kid for getting up this early. And I thought I'd have to go in there and beat you until you woke up." Marcia said, then turned to look at Alexis, wondering what would make him spend the night out of his tent in armor.

"Whatever."

Silver didn't even look at Marcia, rather bringing his hand to his mouth and sighing into it. He didn't wish to deal with her kidding around, tired or not, there was too much on his mind for that. Slinking over to Kuori, he stood quietly, not wishing to say anything and rather focus his thoughts. The battle might very well come today if they weren't prepared... things would go very badly.

". . . Please... give me strength..."

Felicia came out of her tent at that moment, looking as well rested as ever. She was entirely prepared for the coming battles, come them today or not. However, as she made her way outside to see everyone and even Caroline lining up, she frowned. Fang... she was missing. That she noticed immediately...

"And where ever could Fang be?"

In response to Felicia's comment, Marcia's smile faded. She glanced at the line of Whitewings; everyone was present, even Alexis who was out cold. Everyone except for the green haired Wyvern rider. Marcia blinked, where could the girl have gone off to during the night? She wouldn't have gone after Audrey's forces all by herself, would she?

"You're right..." Marcia said, "You, Silver, do something useful for once and wake up Alexis! You can at least do that, can't you, 'Butt Monkey'?"

Then Marcia left for her tent. If Fang really did go assault the enemy, there may still be time to bring her back alive. They would have to mount an attack on the Empire as soon as possible, otherwise from what Alexis said about the general they were facing, Fang won't be able to come back, at all.

". . . Yeah... sure..."

Silver began to walk over to the sleeping knight, walking slowly and quietly. It was obvious that everything had been taking a toll on him, twas a wonder he was still standing. Yet he made his way over to the knight, pressing his hand forward in a fist. A sudden, minor jolt of electricity flew forward and struck the knight, shocking him easily.

The male Whitewing's eyes opened, and he slowly stood, using his large blade to prop himself up. He was clearly exhausted. Alexis looked around him with weary eyes, seeing all of the Whitewings present, except for Marcia and Fang. Although Alexis did know for a fact that Marcia wasn't in any sort of trouble, otherwise Caroline would be hysterical right about now. Which only left the whereabouts, or even the condition, of Fang unknown.

"Fang...she hasn't come back, has she?" Alexis asked.

"No, she hasn't."

Marcia had come out from her tent, now wearing her red breastplate armor. One could tell from her eyes that she was completely serious, and there would be no joking around at all.

"To arms everyone! We're going to bring Fang back alive!" Marcia announced.

Caroline nodded vigorously, immediately stepping into action, only to pause when a shriek came from the sky. All eyes darted up to the air, a crimson creature sputtering in a downward spiral. Upon closer look it was revealed to be none other than a green blur on a dragon like creature. Down, down, down it went, faster and faster like a speeding bullet. Caroline's eyes widened in horror as she noticed what it truly was. Fang passed out bleeding on her mount, her wyvern unable to support her any longer as they spiraled downwards.

"Lady Marcia! It's Fang!"

"...shit..."

Marcia, along with everyone, looked up toward the direction Caroline was staring at. There she was, the missing Whitewing and her mount descending from the sky. She wanted to save Fang and her dragon from the fall, and she was sure Alexis did too, but what could they do? There wasn't enough time to set up a net to catch them, and just a few Pegasi weren't going to be enough to stop a falling dragon.

Kuori stared at the dragon, not knowing what to do, then an idea struck her. Silver, he was able to utilize elemental mana, perhaps he can control the wind to at least slow them down to a point where the fall won't kill them. That is, if they were even still alive right now.

"Silver, think you can do something to cushion their fall?" Kuori asked the boy.

For the first time that morning Silver truly awakened when he heard the shriek. His eyes too had darted to the scene of the falling dragon and her possibly dead rider. He hardly had time to register the scene completely, much less what was barked to others and asked of him. But at that moment none of that really mattered, for he knew what would happen if something wasn't done.

Taking a step forward he began to focus not on the wind but the water in the air. The vapors began to collect, together with the wind and slowly encased them in a block of ice. But they weren't trapped, for it was hollow and only meant to be a shell. In another action yet another shell was created this time of the vapors itself, congealing and then frozen again. Though this time the layer was made with holes, and thus would he save them.

Wind then thrust upward through the through the outer shell, pushing the inner shell up against the top of the other. He kept moving the air until the inner shell broke through to the top, only to end up lodged in the the outer layer. They were only a few feet from the ground when the mass melted and congealed into a sort of bed of water. There the two sat floating, still heavily bleeding.

". . . Well? What are you waiting for! Get the medics!"

It broke a moment later, Silver falling backwards and the near death duo placed on the ground gently.

The entire camp was astonished by what Silver had done, he saved both the girl and dragon. They were able to avoid being damaged by the fall, but the fact of the matter was they had already suffered very bad wounds. It was already a miracle that Fang and her dragon were able to escape Audrey with just these injuries and nothing worse.

Marcia was the first to respond to Silver, she turned to the medics who had all gathered at the center of camp and yelled at them to treat Fang's wounds.

Alexis joined in with the medics, even though he wouldn't be of any help, but then again Alexis wanted to be as close to Fang as possible. He placed his hand over Fang's and tried to feel for a pulse with the other hand, either his senses were dulled from the lack of sleep and hysteria he had just gone though, seeing the girl descend from the sky, or she was dead.

"Fang, you said you'd keep your promise." Alexis thought out loud.

At both the medical treatment and Alexis' worries, Fang began to stir ever so slightly. Her eyes opened, weak and dull to meet his, a slight pain filled sound escaping her lips. She was smiling though, weakly, as if she were proud of what she had done. As the medicines began to take effect, the smile grew slightly and a few more words fell from her lips.

"Heh... I... prom... ised... didn't I?"

Upon hearing her speak Alexis breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive, not only that, she was still conscious. Which meant the girl would need just a bit of rest before being back in shape to move around freely again. However it would be at least a day or two before she could get back into fighting.

"Yes, you did."

Marcia smiled and stared back up into the sky, everything turned out well now. Fang was back relatively unharmed, things could have gone a lot worse. And this little incident may have even brought Alexis and Fang closer together now. Without a word, she left the scene, heading for her tent to relax after all that tension had been built up while Fang was missing.

"Well...at least everyone else is falling in love..." Marcia muttered to herself, looking back at one person in particular before closing the flaps on the tent.

Caroline noticed Marcia slip away from the crowd that began to gather. It was obvious that something was wrong with the commander and it didn't seem good. Watching the tent flap close behind the pink-haired woman, Caroline shifted uncomfortably for a moment before choosing to follow. Slinking away from the crowd as the higher ranked knight had, she opened the tent flap.

"Marcia? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Marcia replied.

Marcia sat down at her table, and crossed her fingers, making a bridge under her chin to rest her head on. She wore that same serious face she always had when there was something important going on. Neither her posture or expression gave away the fact that she was feeling uneasy and a bit unhappy. But she couldn't let anyone know that, she was a soldier after all, and furthermore, she was the commander of the entire regiment. If the commander cannot be in a state to lead, how would the others be expected to follow? She, as the commander, could not show any weakness, whether it be related to the battle or personal, for it would drastically drop the others' morale.

"What do you need, Caroline?" Marcia asked, the tone of her voice was also the same as always.

"You're lying."

Caroline moved over to Marcia, a rather shaky determination shown on her face. She knew something was up from what she had seen before, that was a fact. The only thing causing a problem was Marcia herself; Why was she acting like there was nothing wrong? Pausing for a moment, Caroline pursed her lips before nodding.

"What's wrong?"

To this Marcia sighed and looked directly at Caroline, instead of staring down at the table. The girl was persistent, and out of everyone Caroline was the last person Marcia wanted to talk to about this one specific personal problem of hers. Marcia needed to avoid this, and she was going to lie to her best friend to do so.

"Nothing's wrong Caroline. Go back to your post."

"N-No."

Caroline took another step forward, her shaky determination stronger now. There was no way that she was leaving now. If Marcia wanted to pretend like nothing was wrong with everyone else then fine; but not with her best friend. That is where the younger pegasus knight drew the line.

"Marcia please... tell me. What's the matter?"

To this Marcia grew annoyed, not only because Caroline, who had followed every one of her orders without question, refused her commander, but also the younger girl's persistence. She's turned to cast a slight glare at Caroline, if being nice and trying to avoid this conversation wasn't going to work then Marcia would just have to user a more forceful approach.

"Look, my problems are none of your business, Caroline." Marcia started, "So just leave me alone and go back to your post!"

"You're wrong."

Caroline returned Marcia's glare with one of her own, her eyes sharpening on the commander. If she had been doubtful before, she was completely certain now; Something was going on here and it concerned her. Moving even closer to where she was within arm's reach of her commander, Caroline's look softened. Her hand went to the commander's shoulder, tears beginning to well in Caroline's eyes.

"Marcia, you're my friend. Your problems are my business also... can't you see that?"

How dare she. Marcia was very displeased with Caroline's sudden unwillingness to follow orders. Insubordination was what this was, and Marcia narrowed her eyes even more toward the younger knight. She opened her mouth and was about to raise her voice, but the sight of tears in Caroline's eyes softened the commander's glare. Marcia slowly closed her mouth and blinked, now feeling slightly guilty of making her best friend cry.

"Caroline, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Marcia said, taking the younger Whitewing's hand in her own, "It's just that, there are some things I can't tell you yet, even if I wanted to. And I won't be able to tell you until I'm sure of one other thing. Because I'll only have one chance to say it, and I want to get the best result."

What Caroline had just said was testament to the fact that it was still too early. After all, as Caroline had said, they were "friends," just friends and nothing more.

Caroline shook her head, not fully understanding what her commander was so worried about, but she wiped her tears. Unfortunately, this action was to no avail, as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. But she wouldn't give Marcia a chance to calm her, she would only get worse if that happened. And so, the younger knight grabbed her lance and nodded in respect. She turned and left the tent without so much as a peep.

Meanwhile, Silver had separated himself from the action, being rather distant from everything. In truth he was probably closest to what was going on, he was starting to remember everything about this 'Jay'. No... not this 'Jay'... just: Jay. He was important... special... probably the biggest part of his life outside of Eternal Dream and the nightmare he was stuck in.

Fed up with all of the theatrics going on around him, he was ready to just head back to the tents. But he paused as he noticed Caroline leaving Marcia's tent. His brow furrowed as he noticed what was going on with the young Pegasus Knight. Tears streaming down her cheeks, puffy eyes, the same distant attitude he was feeling. Something was wrong, and he would bet his life it was because Marcia had said something.

His misery he could stand for, it wasn't of this world, but their fighting in this kind of time was crossing the line. Making his way over to her tent, he entered without so much as a "Can I come in?" and made his way to the commander. Slamming his hand down on the table, his voice was raised in seconds.

"I don't know who you think you are, or what kind of morals you have, but you need a reality check! Honestly, what kind of commander, much less what kind of friend, dismisses her subordinate in such a way that it makes her cry? I don't know what it was about, and I don't care to know, but get your priorities in line! I would never treat someone like that, especially someone who was that... close... to me..."

He faltered at the end of his speech, memories flooding to the surface. Life back home began to bubble up in his mind, and the words caught in his throat. He tried to fight what was coming to him, but failed. He was left standing there, barely holding back tears himself.

Unlike her subordinate, Marcia managed to keep a stern expression and not allow her tears to fall. It wasn't easy, but she was able to manage. She watched Caroline leave her tent, then sat down at her table. Her elbows were on the table while her hands were dangling from the edge. She really didn't want to treat Caroline like that, making her cry, but what else was she supposed to say?

Marcia looked up when she heard her tent open, expecting to see Caroline again. But this time it was the mage boy who had came in, and he started shouting at her without saying anything else. He was kind of right, but then again what did the kid know?

"You won't understand the situation, so you have no right to speak to me that way. I know full well what I'm doing, if Caroline wants to be like that then that's fine. The military has no need for crybabies." Marcia snapped, although her voice was slightly faltering, "We're at a war right now, there's no time to worry about each individual's feelings. Thoughts like that is what gets the commander and her solders all killed!"

With that last sentence, enough anger spurred inside Silver for a single moment. He straightened his back, and held himself as he had when he entered the tent. For that brief moment he was as strong as he had been.

"She's going to get herself killed if you don't fix it."

And his strength left him completely, the anger and drive having disappeared with those final words. Not wishing to break down in front of Marcia, he turned, leaving the tent without another word. He had made his point, whether or not she did something with what he gave her was another story.

Marcia took a deep breath, and she was just about to yell at Silver more but she was rudely interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion just outside the Whitewing camp. The first explosion was followed by several more as well as shouting from the soldiers. The pegasi and even Fang's wyvern were spooked by the ensuing chaos, and many of them were kicking and ramming against the doors of the stables.

Marcia forgot completely about the boy, and ran out of her tent to be greeted by a dreadful sight. The sky was covered in dark clouds created by the pillars of black smog from cannon fire. Each of the Whitewing soldiers were gearing up for combat and Marcia could see several large vehicles in the distance...tanks!

Audrey was here.

Silver was taken off guard by the sudden chaos that ensued. Tanks off in the distance heading for the camp caught his eyes. Their fight was finally here. Looking around wildly for his party, the Mana Expert failed to see them amongst the soldiers gearing up. There didn't seem to be any sight of them, and he began to worry. Had they been swallowed up in the chaos, or were they the target of that blast he had just witnessed.

"Kuori! Felicia! Kee! Serenity! WHERE ARE YOU?"

At the time, both Kuori and Kee were at the infirmary as Fang was being treated. Alexis, as one might expect, was sitting in a chair right beside the bed Fang was resting on. But upon hearing the crash of some sort of shell and several explosions outside, all three of the bolted up and made their way outside. Alexis rushed straight to the center of camp and began ringing the bell. The Whitewing soldiers, after getting into their battle attires all went to gather around Alexis and Marcia.

Meanwhile, Kuori and Kee went to Silver, tracking down the direction where they had heard the boy call out for them. Hopefully the other two, Serenity and Felicia, were alive and well.

"Silver, please don't tell me this is what I think it is."