A beer bottle rolls on the floor. The room was dark and stank of alcohol. A dark figure sat curled up on the bed. His face was unshaven and he had black bangs under his eyes. It was the appearance of a man that lost all hope.
For the last five days, Jade had been drinking himself numb. The destruction of Loyalist, it was too much for him to take. He couldn't accept it, the entirety of it all. The cause of it and the result of it, the loss of his friends in First Division, and....Commander. She was dead wasn't she? Why...why did it come to this.
He didn't know who to hate, who to blame,...the Saletsian? The generals? The Chancellor even? He didn't want to think about it, but the reality was hard to ignore.
Jade downed down another Molson. He glanced down, at a picture of his company. His friends...his brothers...and the Commander. Tears came, and Jade started crying.
Then, there was a knock on the door. Jade turned his head, and the knock came again. He didn't want to get up, didn't want to hear anymore bad news. The knock came again, and again, and again....
BASH!
The door swings open, the broken bolt flings towards the wall. Someone walks in...
Jade couldn't believe his eyes. It was a girl. He recognizes her face, it was definitely her. The face that he first saw on his first day of training...the one he thought died...she was looking straight at him.
"You idiot! Why didn't you open the door!"
"Elis..."
Elis sprinted towards him and landed into his arms. Jade felt her warmness, then felt the drip of her tears on his face. She was alive...
-------------------------------------------
It turns out Elis and the Chancellor's family managed to escape Loyalist a day before the self-destruction order by the rogue HOLA generals. They had manage to secure a express mail ship for their journey to Canada, which took a total of nine days. When they arrived, they posed as civilian refugees, but apparently, Elis's brother decided to surrender himself to Canadians.
"I thought you were dead..."
"Takes more than nuclear destruction to kill me..."
"You know where the other guys are? What about my aunt?"
"You aunt is safe, in Terranger. I made sure that she got on the evacuation transport on the first day. As for Fire Company, I heard they're somewhere in UFM, but that's about it..."
"Heaven...well, a least you are alive...Commander."
"I'm not your Commander anymore...the military was dissolved remember? I'm just Elis now..."
Jade felt nervous, being so close to Elis. She was different now, not the hard-ass officer that he was use to, but a soften and angelic young woman. Her face was no longer cold and blank, but a rosy expression of warmth and innocence.
Elis noticed his stares. Her cheeks turned red. Jade realizes this and looks away.
"Sorry..."
"It's alright..."