"Ramsus and The Elements"

[[This is a Xenogears story, based on Ramsus and the Elements, who as far as I know aren't seen after Merkava. I don't see any Xenogears stories, I decided to try this one.

Janus Calloway]]

"You're a representative of Krelian? Why couldn't Krelian himself show up?"

Ramsus said to the purple haired woman. Ramsus and the purple haired woman stood in Krelian's main laboratory, in front of a large tube.

There were experiments all around them, but neither Ramsus nor the woman wanted to know what they were.

"Krelian had an emergency he had to tend to regarding Emperor Cain. I was sent instead. My name is...Miang." the purple haired woman said.

Ramsus quickly took more notice of this woman. She was quite beautiful, and Miang knew he wasn't too much interested in his meeting with Krelian anymore.

Miang had a folder with her, and handed it to Ramsus. "I was told to give you this, with Krelian's apologies for not being here personally."

Ramsus took the folder, and opened it. Inside was a large blueprint and picture model of a golden gear with wings, and carrying a sword. On the top of the paper it said "Vendetta"

in black. A small smile curved Ramsus's face.

"Heh...showering me with gifts." Ramsus said to himself. Miang looked puzzled. "Excuse me?" Miang asked.

"Oh...nothing."

Ramsus said. Ramsus was starting to feel quite good, for as it turned out Krelian was going to meet with him

to give him this Gear. Ramsus was proud in the knowledge that he was finally climbing the ladder, despite the label that was slapped on him

before he was even born. Ramsus extended his hand to Miang. Now he had another motive.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself more formally...I am Lt. Commander Kharan Ramsus."

Ramsus said, taking Miang's hand and kissing it gently. Miang looked taken back. "My...I guess my next news for you will be even better. Krelian has informed me to be his "eyes" on you." Miang said.

"What is that?"

"It means I'll be watching and reporting to Krelian everything you do for quite some time. You could call me your...shadow."

Ramsus smiled again. "My shadow has never looked better then." Ramsus said with a slight laugh.

Ramsus stared out of the window of the abandoned salvager ship he would have to call his home now. He was dirty, unshaven, his clothes even a mess.

As he stared out the window, he just saw miles and miles of endless sea, and he could only wonder how he got here. A year ago, he'd be laying in a comfortable king sized bed with Miang, in front of a warm fireplace. Now, on this drifting salvager, he had to burn some of his clothes to a fire just to stay warm.

"You're the greatest warrior Solaris ever had, Commander! You can't just sulk around like this...and we won't let you!"

Dominia said from behind Ramsus. "Maybe you have been taken advantage of by everyone, maybe you were created for one purpose...but you are still superior to almost everyone." she said.

Ramsus still stared out of the window, but spoke in a deep, scarce tone.

"Why do you even care, Dominia? Yes, I was Solaris's best solider...but where's Solaris? Where's the rest of the world for that matter? We're going to die out here...those Gears of yours aren't worth junk anymore, they don't run. Your powers are gone, all you've got is that sword that isn't worth anything unless it's charged." Ramsus said.

Dominia frowned, knowing it was all true. They were going to die if Kelvena and the twins Tolone and Seraphita couldn't get the Salvager engine started. They were below trying to do that now, while Dominia stood on scout for any land, while keeping suicide watch on Ramsus.

Ramsus had tried to cut his own wrists and even drown himself 3 times in the past 2 days, but his ability to heal very quickly stopped him from bleeding to death, and Dominia was there to save him always.

Ramsus turned slowly from the window, and looked back to Dominia.

"Why exactly did you get me out of Merkava? I would've rather died there instead of starve to death on this piece of junk. The reason to be an Element is dead, you are no longer obliged to follow my orders." Ramsus said. But Dominia already knew this, it wasn't about protecting him for Gebler anymore. She still felt she owed him.

"I...we respect you more than being our boss, Command..."

"Stop calling me Commander! I am no longer your leader! I'm just...trash. Why couldn't I except that label and live like it?"

"To the Gazel Ministry, Krelian, and that bitch Miang you were nothing. Where are they now?" Dominia exclaimed.

Ramsus turned around fully, and slowly walked away from Dominia, heading to the screw elevator on the bridge. "Somewhere we're about to go. None of us are exactly angels. This planet is trash, I'm trash...and for following me dirt like me, you're even more trash."

Ramsus said, trying to operate the screw elevator down to engine room.

Kelvena was hard at work in the core of the engine, trying to get it to work. The twins Tolone and Seraphita were "supervising", and handing Kelvena supplies whenever she needed them. They all sat on top of the large, dead engine, just hoping and waiting it would get started.

But it was hard for Kelvena to work, as the twins would not stop talking. "Kelvena, what do you know about turbine engines exactly?" Tolone asked. Kelvena couldn't hear, her head inside of the opening in the top of the engine, searching for the right "thing". "Hey! Kel!" Seraphita yelled.

Kelvena quickly raised her head.

"What is it?" Kelvena said softly.

"What exactly do you know about a turbine engine?" Seraphita asked again.

"My Marinebasher had the ability to change it's engine into a regular gear engine or a turbine engine so it could run good underwater. The repair crews were usually the ones to fix it when it was damaged, but I managed to learn a thing or two." Kelvena said.

Kelvena ran her hand through her head, trying to the black oil from her blue hair. All three of them weren't very clean though, they had gotten dirty from their escape from Merkava, and navigating half the planet trying to find a safe place to live...before people started turning into "seraphs" all of a sudden then two days later their Gears went into complete shutdown right over the ocean. They managed to escape to get to this Salvager, abandoned but not totally destroyed from an attack by Giant Wels. The engine was slightly intact, so Kelvena thought she'd take a crack at getting the Salvager started. But there were very little rations on the ship, and with Ramsus slipping into deep depression, the former Elements were doubting their survival for the first time.

"You know all this kind of stuff, don't you Kel?"

Seraphita asked as Kelvena sunk back into the engine with a wrench. "Yeah..." Tolone started. "Kelly knows all this kind of technical stuff. I'm shocked you haven't gotten this done already!" she continued.

"But Kelly, what exactly are we going to do if we get this started?" Seraphita asked. Tolone's head spun to Seraphita. "Run it of course, you idiot!" Tolone snapped.

"I know that!" Seraphita snapped back.

"But there's no land in sight, and this old bucket of bolts doesn't even have a working radar!"

"We'll have a better chance of finding land if we can MOVE!"

"Don't yell at me now...we couldn't even see land when we had our gears! Even when we do find land, how will we find a warm place to sleep? We have little food and our powers don't even function!"

"Stop being so pessimistic. We'll be fine." Tolone said, but inside she doubted it herself.

"But Kelly, do you have any idea why our powers aren't working anymore?" Tolone yelled down to Kelvena.

"No. I guess you both will have to function with your brains for once." Kelvena said, with a slight chuckle from below.

Tolone made a mock laugh back.

"Any news on Ramsus?" Kelvena's voice echoed. Tolone shrugged.

"Dominia says he's awake...but he's still barely talking, poor guy." Tolone said. "That's gotta suck, finding out no matter what you did in your whole life, you were used." Seraphita said.

"Well, we all warned him to stay away from that bimbo Miang, but oh no, like all other guys he thinks with his other brain." Tolone said.

"What's wrong with that?" Seraphita asked.

"I happen to like that quality in a guy."

"The only quality you need in a man is to find he's breathing."

Kelvena let out a slight chuckle from below again. Where Kelvena was working, there was a loud clanking noise, and Kelvena's head rose, her hair full of oil. She panted, and tried to wipe the oil from her face and hair. "Go down there and pull that lever, she said pointing to a control board on lower ground.

Tolone leaped down from the large engine and headed over to the lever, and pulled it. There was a loud noise where Kelvena was working, and gears inside started to turn. Kelvena and Seraphita gasped as it appeared to run, and then they started to rejoice. After two days of working to get the engine going, they finally did it, and the twins were jumping up and down, but Kelvena just sat, smiling.

"How did you get it going, Kel?" Seraphita asked.

"Well...you do know this place was taken by some Wels...while I was working down here, I found a...hand stuck between the gears." Kelvena said with disgust. "Ewww!" Seraphita exclaimed in equal disgust.

"You didn't touch it, did you?"

"No, it was rotted and nasty...I didn't want to touch it. I pushed it down and mashed it, hoping the gears of the engine would crumble it. I guess it's what stopped the engine...an engine is like a computer. If there's one problem, the whole thing won't run." Kelvena said, under the engine's growing noise. Right then, a strange thought entered Tolone's head as she climbed back on top of the engine.

"You said Wels took over this place, right?" Tolone asked. Kelvena nodded.

"Then...what happened to them?" Tolone asked.

"Wels are cannibalistic." a male voice from behind them said. It was Ramsus, standing in front of the large engine. "They were left here without any flesh to eat, so they ate each other." Ramsus said. The 3 girls, shocked hopped down from the top, and ran over to Ramsus. "Ramsus! You're ok!" all three exclaimed at the same time.

"We were quite worried about you, sir." Kelvena said. Seraphita took Ramsus's right arm, and curled herself into him with a smile.

"Yeah, we're all happy!" she said.

Ramsus uncurled her from him, and put her back with the other 2 ladies.

He couldn't figure out what to say to them.

"Thank you for your concern." Ramsus said simply. "Good work with the engine, Kelvena." Ramsus said. Kelvena slightly blushed. Each of the women known as the Elements had their own crushes on Ramsus for different reasons. "They either ate each other...or they are still here somewhere. Awaiting to eat even us or something."

Ramsus said.

"Oh come on, Ramsus. If they were still here, how would they survive without food?" Tolone asked.

"There could be very little of them remaining. If so, we could have a problem. But I...couldn't care less." Ramsus said coldly. "If we die, we die. If there are Reapers here, they'll speed it up."

Tolone spoke up, despite she was getting nervous of Ramsus's talk. "We've been here 2 days, and nothing has came yet! Stop being so bummed out." she said.

"Take this from someone who worked with the man who pretty much created them...if they are here, and I'm not saying they are...but if Wels are here, they could be fighting what's left of their humanity from fighting to eat us. They would have sat back and starved while the other Wels feasted on the crew quickly, then awaited for the time they could cannibalize and eat their weakened comrades, because the others would thirst more after that taste.

And after all the others feasted on each other, these survivors took the scraps, which would lead us up to now." Ramus cleared his throat.

"But maybe we'd be more useful as someone's dinner." Ramsus said.

"What kind of confidence is that, boss?" Seraphita asked, hiding her own nervousness.

"I plan to live another 30 years, just because you don't..."

Tolone stopped her, and shook her head, signaling her not to go there. Ramsus started breathing in and out heavy, and marched back to the screw elevator, but it wasn't there, as Dominia was on her way down herself.

"Sir..." Kelvena started to say, but Ramsus had his back turned to her.

"Sir, we all have our failures in life, but we get up and start over." Kelvena said, trying to talk some sense into Ramsus. Ramsus just looked down, and spoke again. "I've had my second chance. I blew it." Ramsus said.

"No! You didn't!" Tolone started. "Look at us now...the fact that we're even alive is a chance to start over. And for once I agree with Seraphita, in that I'm not going to die here...this engine is going to get us to land. Until then, we have some...military rations." Tolone said, disgusted she was even saying the word "rations". When she was an Element, she had sirloin every night, and just about everything else she wanted.

As the elevator came down to the engine room, Dominia stepped out and Ramsus brushed past her and stepped in, quickly and wordlessly moving up to the living quarters. Dominina looked back at Ramsus.

"There...is one troubled soul." Dominia said with grief.

"Listen, we shouldn't try to butter up Ramsus, just for the next few days. He's going through some tough stuff." Dominia said. "We should just give him time. We ourselves have quite a bit to do." she said. Now that the engine was going, Dominia was obviously wasting no time in taking command, like the leader she was. Kelvena smiled slightly.

"Still the official leader, Dominia?" Kelvena asked. Dominia smiled slightly.

"Always have, and will." Dominia replied. "Tolone...take the helm." Dominia said to Tolone, and she nodded. "Seraphita, you get first watch as, then after 7 hours you take helm and Tolone will take watch. Kelvena, you try to repair the radar. It seems you're the fixer around here."

Dominia said. "We are not...repeat NOT going to die out here! And contary to popular belief, we are still the Elements, just with our powers gone for awhile." Dominia said, trying to restore everyone's faith and her own. "Let's get to work."

But as they separated to do their respective jobs, there were others on board who wanted them to finish and find land even more than the Elements, except it wasn't rations they were planning on eating. Indeed, there were a small amount of Wels still on board, 6 in fact, but they were spawning...

And still, Dominia watched over Ramsus as he slept, remembering everything he'd done for her, and her times with the Elements, whom she considered her only friends. As she did, she wondered wheter she was watching him over duty, or if it was something else...

Dominia walked to the Gear Hangar with one of Gebler's officers, to accompany her to Gear, which would be apart of her new assignment. She was not wearing her regular clothes, she was wearing green and black military fatigues, even though she was an elite and didn't need to. As she walked across the extremely noisy and vast hangar, she spoke to the officer.

"Why haven't the specifics of this assignment been given to me?" Dominia asked.

"Because the Lt. Commander decided not to disclose until you meet the team you'll be working with. But I will tell you have been given a bodyguard operation." the officer with dark, black hair said. Dominia stopped, shocked.

"WHAT? A BODYGUARD OPERATION?!" Dominia exclaimed.

"I'm elite of the elite! And I'm given a bodyguard assignment?" Dominia said, her anger growing.

"Not just bodyguarding, but personal guard. " the officer said. "Please, let's continue on." the officer said. And with that, they continued on, though Dominia was skeptical. After all, if she was getting a team of command and her own Gear, it couldn't be so bad. The continued on, until they reached the the back of a large, red gear that had white arms and legs, and appeared to be made of the toughest armor. The back of it, which was to the front of Dominia and the officer, looked like a backpack of some sort. The officer pointed to the gear.

"This, Officer Dominia, is your Gear." the officer said. Dominia was taken back by the sight of it. Her own personal Gear, and it wasn't standard issue. This meant you were somebody, not many got their own customized Gear.

"This...is mine?" Dominia asked. "What are it's capabilities exactly?"

The officer cleared his throat, and straightened his glasses.

"This is one of the more advanced models to date, but not top of the line. The large back it has can store large amounts of Ether power, 3 times more than any other gear, and this power can't be used directly, however. It can used by being charged into a solid object, such as a sword, which comes with this Gear, but hasn't been fully equipped yet. After it's charged with the elemental ether power, the charged object can deliver strong attacks to any other Gear. It's also not very difficult to repair, it has a strong engine that can contain 7,000 gallons of fuel and move quite fast, so don't hesitate about using full boosters." the officer finished. "Quite a machine this thing is."

Dominia stood, admiring it. Then she looked at the officer again.

"It's not a thing, mind you. It is...Bladegash." Dominia said. Then she smiled wickedly. "A superior Gear for a superior woman. Yes...how dare you say this is just an advanced Gear? This IS top of the line, because it's mine."

Dominia stated, getting angry with the officer for saying it was simply an "advanced" Gear. "When will I get to pilot it?"

"After this assignment has become official, and when you really need it." the officer said. "You can't just take it out now."

Dominia's face quickly turned red, and she pushed the officer to the floor.

"Why not? It's mine, isn't it?" she said angrily. The officer got back to his feet, trying not to get angry himself. He just started stuttering though.

"You, you can't take it...it out because it...it's procedure!" the officer said nervously.

"Then take me to my team!!!" Dominia yelled. She was already getting a superiority complex. The officer straightened his glasses. "Fine, miss Dominia. Right this way."

The officer walked on, quite angry at Dominia, but controlled himself. They walked further down the hangar to another Gear, that was at first out of view until they moved up closer, and then they saw it was a Gear that looked more like a shark.

"What are we waiting for?" Dominia asked, losing patience.

"Your second in command." the officer said. "She's a technical and strategic expert, and trained heavily in water, as her powers, much like yours, well show." the officer said.

"No need for flattery." a soft, female voice from behind them said. When Dominia turned around, she saw a girl

that looked a little bit younger than her, with blue hair and her eyes looked like they were shut. She extended her hand to Dominia. "I am Elite First Class Kelvena." the young woman said. Dominia shook her hand, and started to wonder how exactly Kelvena could see.

"How on earth do you see with your eyes closed?" Dominia asked.

"I don't." Kelvena said. "I'm blind. But I have extremely advanced senses, 3 times that of even a blind person. I have the full makeout of a person's face by touching them, and I can know the full layout of my control panel." Kelvena stated.

"What about during a battle inside your Gear?" Dominia asked.

"I am able to hear and respond anything moving quite fine. I could probably respond to attack better than someone with vision." Kelvena said. Dominia smirked. "Not me, that's for sure." she said.

"So you already got your Gear?"

Kelvena nodded.

"I told them exactly what I wanted, and they gave it to me. This machine, I'm told, has abilities much alike to that of a sub, except it has full flying ability, it can fly as well as it can do underwater. But because of that, the engine doesn't move as fast as some other Gears. But I can make it work of course." Kelvena said, then smiled.

Dominia and Kelvena turned to the officer.

"I assume there must be another member or two to this...team." Dominia said. The officer nodded, and motioned them to follow him. They went to the elevator that led out of the Solaris Base gear hangar, and the elevator quickly went up to the mess hall, which was quite different from many other mess halls. This mess hall was very, very clean, with restaurant-quality food, and in the center of the hall was a circle of men in green fatigues, and the officer went to the table, and there were two women sitting, conversing with the men and flirting with them. One had clear white hair with ponytails on both sides of her head, in a green dress, while the other girl had fiery red hair, and wore a red, short dress.

"Excuse me..." the officer started, straightening his glasses again.

"Are you two Tolone and Seraphita? I was told I could find you here." the officer said. The girl with the red hair sat up.

"Yeah, we're busy though! What do you want?" she said. The girl with the white hair elbowed her in the arm.

"Show some freakin' manners, Seraphita! He could be on important business." the white haired one said. With that, she stood up, and told her sister to stand up too. The officer motioned them to follow, but the men moaned and Seraphita shrugged, and told them she'd be back later.

The 5 went to a table in the corner, and began their introductions.

"Hi. My name's Tolone." the girl with the white hair said, extending her hand. "I'm Seraphita." the girl with the red hair said, extending her.

"Dominia." Dominia said, shaking hands.

"Kelvena." Kelvena said, shaking hands also. Seraphita looked at Kelvena oddly.

"Are you blind or something?" she asked. Kelvena nodded.

"But I am quite able." Kelvena responded. The officer began to speak amongst the introductions. "Now that you are together, I should tell you about your newest assignment." he started.

"All of you were brought together because you have at some point displayed an ether ability specific to a force of nature, or an element. Lt. Commander Kharan Ramsus's aide, Miang, has been scouting you all among the ranks for some time, and you appear to be the best of best, the four of you."

Seraphita put her hand on her chin, looking at the officer. "I like a man in uniform, did you know that?" Seraphita said. The officer glared at Seraphita. "Have you been listening?" the officer asked.

"Sorry." Seraphita muttered.

"Anyway, Miang is responsible for choosing Ramsus's personal guard and agents, and he personally suggested they all be women."

Dominia sighed. "Men are such stupid pigs." Dominia said, disgusted. The officer ignored her, and continued. "He wanted at least 4...attractive, good fighting women, but Miang suggested they have 4 different powers, matching the elements. And you all fit those descriptions to the letter."

"What kind of missions might we be having?" Kelvena asked. The officer cleared his throat again.

"The gears were given to you compliments of Miang, who appears to have alot of pull with the Solarian military. You won't always be working together, you will sometimes split up or work alone. But noone except for Ramsus or Miang can order you around. Not even Commander Vanderkaum. Besides them, you have total and complete freedom, and you can order anyone else around. This is quite a privilege."

the officer said. Dominia couldn't help but smile a little at the newfound power she'd been given. Seraphita simply rubbed her hands together, already feeling the power.

"You're almost freelance you see, you can also protect anyone else you want, and they will pay a high price for it."

"When do we get to meet Lt. Commander Kharan Ramsus anyway?" Tolone asked. The officer removed his officer's hat, and pulled the black hair from his head, showing it not to be real. He had short, blonde hair really, and he removed his thick glasses showing a quite handsome man.

"You just did." the officer said in a deeper voice. He extended his hand to Tolone. "Kharan Ramsus." he said. "You must be the Elements. Please, call me Kahr."

From that day on, Dominia remembered, things had gotten much, much better...but from the top there was only one other place to go. And now the Elements were there.

Ramsus laid in the hard living quarters bed, sleeping, which he believed warded off his depression. Dominia was as depressed as him, except better at hiding it. All she could do was think back to when her life and everyone's else was better...and realized she wasn't superior as she had bragged to everyone before. She wasn't the best, despite she had her talents. After all, every time she encountered Elly Van Houten and her "comrades". But this wasn't going to be the end, oh no. She, the Elements, even Ramsus would start over, and get back to where they were once. On top.

As Seraphita sat watch for land on the the deck of the salvager, the stars were out, and things actually were peaceful...but that was to be broken. Seraphita couldn't hear the screw elevator go up, she had drifted off into sleep. Something creeped slowly behind her, across the deck until it reached her. Then it let out a slight growl. Mistake.

Seraphita's eyes snapped open, and she spun around. It was a disgusting, creeping Reaper. Seraphita gasped, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, but it was no time for shock now. She rolled up to her feet as the Reaper dashed at her while she rested. Seraphita readied herself in a fighting stance. She may be ditsy, but she was a great fighter. The reaper dashed at her again, growling, but she kicked it straight in the stomach, then quickly in the chest. She followed it up with a roundhouse kick, and by reflex, headed both fists to it's head to fry it, except she forgot she no longer

had that power. She only succeeded in stunning it. Instead she went for her knife from the side of her shoes, and stabbed the reaper in the chest, then right in the face, killing the reaper. It's growling stopped, and something that haunted Seraphita happened as she killed her first reaper. It smiled weakly at her, then collapsed. Seraphita just screamed, as her sister Tolone came up quickly. Tolone took one look at the corpse of the reaper, and only muttered "We...aren't ready for this."

End of Prt 1

Right there, after Tolone decided to stay with her sister and watch her back for the rest of the night, the 4 decided they'd have breakfast in the mess hall of the Salvager and discuss their situation. There were indeed Wels on board as Ramsus has suggested, but Ramsus was refusing to aid them, as he thought they'd all be better off food for the Reapers anyway.

So bright and early, Dominia, Kelvena, Seraphita and Tolone gathered over some rations and began talking. Seraphita was very quiet, a rare thing.

"Good morning." Dominia said calmly, trying to break the ice. She went straight to business. "I'm sorry about your attack last night, Sera." Dominia said to Seraphita. Seraphita weakly nodded, and chewed on one of her steak rations weakly.

"But we can't let one Reaper attack get morale down. We may not be in a military anymore, but military rules still stand. I am the leader of the Elements...Ramsus is the commander despite his incapacity, Kelvena is the technical expert and second-in-command, and you two are...soldiers as usual. We've got this Salvager going...now all we have to do is find land."

Dominia turned to Tolone and Seraphita.

"Any luck with land, you two?" she asked. Tolone shook her head.

"We're so stranded out here...for all we know there may not be land for a whole lotta miles! I mean hundreds! And this rathole is barely running!" Tolone exclaimed.

"This rathole is our only chance of survival, and we're lucky it's running at all." Kelvena snapped. Tolone looked shocked by Kelvena's sudden anger. All this is getting to Kelvena, too, Tolone thought.

"We're awaiting for Commander Ramsus to get his spirits again and help us out, he has been through much. But until then, we are not just soldiers...we're the Elements! We will NOT fail, am I clear?" Dominia said, voice raising. Everyone stayed silent. Dominia leaped from her seat, slamming both hands on the table "Am I clear?!!!" Dominia yelled.

"Yeah!!!" everyone snapped up, starting to pep up. Dominia sat back down in her seat, and drank some water before continuing.

"Now, we have a new plan. Kelvena, you're going to get the radar and land operations going. I found a spare toolbox in the old captain's room. Ignore some of the body parts that are laying around."

Kelvena's face quickly turned green. "Tolone, you're going to keep land watch. There's a telescope mounted over the control panel, I guess you missed it."

Tolone nodded. "The first sign of land, I'll just give ya a holler." she stated. Seraphita, who suddenly nodded off to sleep, was elbowed by Tolone, so she could wake up.

"Huh? Wha.." Seraphita said, waking up. "And Seraphita...I've got a special little job for you." Dominia said. Seraphita quickly had a wide smile on her face.

"You want me to watch and care for Ramsus, right?!" Seraphita said excitedly.

"Nooo...but something better." Dominia said, a grin coming over her own face. Dominia reached under the table, and pulled up a mop.

"While they're doing their jobs, and I'm going Reaper hunting, you get to clean all the blood and other gross crap from the ship! You seemed to complain about it so much..." Dominia tried to talk, but her speaking was drowned out by a very high pitched scream from Seraphita.

An hour later, everyone was busy at work, but Dominia had the most dangerous job of all, she was in the attempt of finding any Wels still on the Salvager, and kill them. She descended to the lowest deck first, deep in the engine room. What a disgusting place, she thought. There was of course a time, she would never be in a place like this. She climbed up into the rafters above, smelling the stench, but seeing now sign of a Reapers. But they saw her.

"Hmph. Maybe there are no more Wels here." she said to herself. "Whew...what a stench though! What crawled up here and died?"

Just then, there was unpreceptible breathing. Unperceptible breathing to a normal person, but not to Dominia. She quickly spinned around as she heard it. "Wh...who's there?" Dominia yelled into the darkness. She was losing balance on the catwalk even as she spoke. She drew her large sword at light speed, and slowly sidestepped across the catwalk, sneaking. "Kelvena? Ramsus?" Dominia yelled into the darkness again. The darkness was quiet again for a moment.

"None of the above." the darkness replied in a coarse, dark tone. Dominia spinned around again, but when she did something jumped upon her back from behind, and scratched her neck, deep, and almost as quick vanished back into the darkness. She let out a scream, and fell to her knees as she felt the claws scrape her flesh. She pressed her hand to the back of her neck, and looked at it, seeing her own blood.

"I'm...bleeding?" she said in total disbelief. She had taken bruises, of course. But blood was a rare thing. What shocked her even more was that the creature that scratched her had taunted her before it attacked. The rumors about the Wels were true obviously...they had intelligence. But there was no time for shock now. Dominia quickly ignored her pain, and stood back up.

"Show yourself!" she yelled.

"No thanks." the darkness replied. She turned around again, and as the creature leaped out, she spun around again, sword in hand, slicing the Reaper in half. She outsmarted the Reaper, but didn't have time to revel in the victory, as there was more growling from the darkness.

Another Reaper leaped out from behind, then another to her front. The one in back jumped at her, but she ducked in time. Both Wels were in front of her, and she high-slashed at one, but it dodged her clawed her in the stomach. The other jumped on the rail of the catwalk, with amazing balance. She backed up from the Wels as they approached her, then she bumped into something slimy and soft.

She spun around, and saw it was a giant Reaper's cocoon, and before she let out a horrifying scream, she knew what was coming. She ducked quickly as the reaper on the rail jumped at her, slicing the cocoon open. She quickly responded by stabbing it to the hilt with her sword, and side kicked the Reaper that jumped at her. She followed up by stabbing it in the heart while it was down, and she slowly watched it die.

But she would be haunted by the slight smile the dying Reaper had on her face. She wiped the blood from her face and held onto her own stinging, bloody neck, and heard one more voice from the darkness.

"You shouldn't leave your friends alone." a reaper in the dark said weakly. Dominia had figured out their plan quickly, and also that they weren't just smart...but possibly smarter than the whole crew of this Salvager.

She climbed over the catwalk rail, and landed on her feet on the engine, and rushed for the screw elevator, hoping she wasn't too late to aid her comrades...

3 reapers crept inside of the infirmary, quietly, as to not awaken their prey. They stood still once they reached a closed curtain, and waited 3 seconds, then pulled it open quickly. There was noone lying in the bed, as they thought. But instead, behind them, sitting in a chair, sword in hands, was Ramsus, who they came to prey upon.

They didn't seem shocked, he didn't seem shocked. Ramsus stroked the handle of his sword, and just looked at the Reaper that stood in front. He eyed them all. He'd seen Wels before. In fact, many of the people he captured during battles were most likely turned into them.

He knew about that whole plan. He just couldn't have cared less at the time he knew.

"How are you still alive?" Ramsus asked simply. The front Reaper, snarling and disgusting, stepped forward towards Ramsus.

"You...already know...that." the reaper said in a coarse tone.

"You got our...survival plan to the l..etter...except we weren't waiting for anyone."

Ramsus sat up. "But it's so lucky we showed up, isn't it?" Ramsus asked.

"Indeed...we...heard...you were from...Solaris. Geb..ler. Yo...you did this...to...us." the reaper said. A look of anger was growing in the Reaper's disfigured face.

"You...dropped...us...here...and left us..to kill these people....then..ou...ourselves. You...evil." the reaper said. Ramsus looked at the Reaper again.

"Yes. I am evil, indeed. I'm responsible for deaths, I knew you and all the other Wels were going through this...I deserve to die."

Ramsus said. Ramsus threw his sword down to the floor.

"Kill me. But leave the girls alone." Ramsus ordered. Ramsus then sighed. "They were following orders. Saving their own lives."

The lead reaper stared at Ramsus, deep, looking right down into his soul.

"You...all...will...die...we...eat...your...flesh." The reaper sneered. "You...all...deserve...death...you...stole...our..lives. Now...you...give...it...back...by...becoming...our...nurishing." the reaper finished.

Ramsus sighed again, and backed his head away from the reaper, trying to ignore the smell.

"Listen to me now, I won't say it again. You spare the girls and kill me, or we have no deal, and I wind up killing all of you." Ramsus said with more force. The two Wels with the leader stepped forward, and began snarling, readying for an attack.

"They...could...already...be...dead...like you." the leader sneered again. Right after saying this, the two Reapers lashed at Ramsus, who rolled on the floor quickly, and scooped up his longsword.

On the bridge, Kelvena laid under the control panel, where she was trying to get the radar operational, but 2 Wels were quickly sneaking upon her. "Tolone? Dom?" Kelvena yelled from underneath the panel. The two Wels stood directly above her, and she slid out from under the panel, as the Wels prepared for a strike. But as her arm barely slid out, she extended her screwdriver as one of the Wels came down, stabbing it in the chest. She rolled out from under the control panel completely, and handspringed to her feet, gripping the screwdriver tightly.

"I can smell you from a mile away." Kelvena said calmly. She more than likely truly could.

"I may be blind, but I can see." Kelvena said. As a 3rd reaper tried to grab her from behind, she thrusted her screwdriver into the reaper's rib, making it writhe in pain. The 2 reapers she got were in pain, but a screwdriver can only do so much damage. They began to close around on Kelvena, and she was outnumbered and cornered.

On the upper deck of the Salvager, Tolone could do nothing but run from two pursuing Reapers, as one had a broken glass bottle while Tolone had nothing.

"HELLLLLP!" Tolone yelled. But noone was coming. But as she ran, she began to come across a crane. She jumped onto the crane, and started to swing. She flipped around, and struck the reaper with the bottle hard in the face with a double kick as she swung, then she flipped off the crane quickly, and dived in with a harsh punch to the second reaper, putting her fist through it's chest. She shook her hands to get the green blood off, yelling "EWWWW!" all the while. The reaper that had the glass bottle got to his knees, and dashed at the back of Tolone's leg, slicing the back deep, making her fall to one knee in complete agony.

The worst thing an Element could do was fail, but they were about to do much worse. Die.

As the Reapers closed in on Kelvena, she began to feel incredible despair. She sliced at them with her screwdriver, but one of them caught it, and sliced her wrist, and she screamed. Just as one of them was about to score a killing blow, something stopped him. Namely a longsword through the back. It howled in pain, and fell to the deck. Dominia kicked another one in the rib, while Kelvena took her screwdriver, and drove it into the second reaper's heart.

The reaper that was kicked groaned in pain, but ran for the screw elevator, and closed the door. It climbed up the screw wire, and vanished from Dominia's sight, who was chasing it. She cursed, and ran around to the mess hall, which was next to the bridge, like on all Salvagers.

"Are you ok?" Dominia asked, while running. "I'm glad you're here." was all Kelvena said, hiding how glad she was to not only see that Dominia had saved her, but that Dominia was alive.

"Wait!" Kelvena yelled. "The others must be in trouble, too! Let me get the flare gun I found!" Kelvena said to Dominia. Dominia ran to the second screw elevator, trying to make it work for the infirmary.

"Good! You find Tolone and Seraphita...I'll get Ramsus!" Dominia yelled, already going down to the infirmary.

Ramsus, however, didn't need much help. The lead Reaper only stood by and watched as Ramsus paced around the Wels that were dashing around him, trying to score a hit, but Ramsus simply dodged every attack. Finally, as one Reaper dashed at Ramsus, he side stepped the attack and with great strength, swiftly slashed the reaper across the stomach, almost separating it from it's torso! And in almost the same move, Ramsus stabbed the second reaper to the hilt with his longsword, and pulled it out quickly.

I may not be the ultimate man, Ramsus thought, but I'm pretty far up there. Ramsus was actually starting to feel good about himself again, something he hadn't felt in some time. The leader stared Ramsus down again, and Ramsus got into his Mirror Stance, just in case the leader might try an attack. The leader sneered at Ramsus again.

"You...will...all...be...our...food." was all it said, and it ran, and leaped down the screw elevator shaft, vanishing.

Almost instantly, Dominia came down from her elevator, and ran to Ramsus. "Commander!! Are you..." she was stopped when she saw the two devastated Wels, and Ramsus standing over them without a scratch on him.

The reaper on the upper deck with Tolone didn't directly attack her after weakening her. She laid on the ground, bleeding from her leg, but the reaper did not kill her. It leaned forward...it's wreaking stench almost making her vomit...and it extended her tongue, and licked the terrified girl's cheek. Tolone could only lay in fear, for she could barely move. The reaper didn't have an angry look on it's face, it had a look,as one who may have been attracted to such a girl, had the circumstances been different. Tolone shut her eyes, and tried to make pretend such a nightmare wasn't happening. The reaper's look suddenly turned back into that of

a raging beast, and raised it's hand to cut Tolone, until she heard "Tolone!! Roll Away!!" from far in front of her. Almost instantly, Tolone rolled away, and the second she did, a small flare shot the reaper, quickly engulfing it in flames.

But Tolone didn't feel relief as her first emotion, but the shock that the Reaper did not scream as it died, but just stood while it slowly burned, and then crumpled to the ground. All the Elements were discovering something about their enemy it seemed...that the Wels weren't bloodthirsty zombies, but they were...human. Or they once were. Kelvena quickly ran over to Tolone, and helped her to her feet.

"Are you ok?" Kelvena asked.

Tolone, her leg in anguish, looked up at Kelvena.

"For a blind gal...you're a great shot." Tolone said. Kelvena smiled slightly, and helped Tolone to walk. "I told you so." Kelvena said. Tolone's jaw dropped as another thought raced through her head. "My sister!! What about Seraphita?!!"

Dominia ran down to the Captain's room, and kicked the door open, looking for Seraphita.

"Seraphita!" Dominia yelled. But from the captain's bathroom door walked out Seraphita, dirty clothes, a mop, and a bucket. She looked at Dominia with extreme contempt. "I...will...never forgive you, Dominia!!! You don't just make me clean up this rathole, but the stinky Captain's bathroom?!!! You really suck, Dominia!!!!"

Dominia's look of panic vanished, and she shook her head, shameful of Seraphita.

"You know Seraph...we've all been around being attacked by Wels, and you're in here fooling around?" Dominia exclaimed. Seraphita threw down her mop and stood in anger. "I hope those Reapers eat the whole lot of you!!!! Hmph!!!!" Seraphita yelled.

3 hours later, the Elements, still minus Ramsus, who although fought for his life was still greatly depressed. They met for dinner, to discuss more of their plan of action. Usually, after a battle like this, they'd be celebrating. But they only felt fear now. Where once the Elements were the hunters, they were now the hunted.

If they still had their powers, this would be no problem. But they didn't have that, or their Gears. Dominia, always the icebreaker, spoke first.

"Now listen, ladies. Today, we got attacked, yes. But we won. We, the Elements, always..." Tolone slammed her fist down on the table, cutting Dominia off.

"We always win!!!?" Tolone yelled at Dominia.

"Does this look like a win to you!!? We're trapped in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by flesh-eating zombies, we have NO gears, and our leadership is in the Infiramary sucking on his thumb for who knows how long!!!!! This is a win!! This is a loss, and a pretty damn bad one!!!!!"

Tolone yelled, her face red and full of anger. Dominia stood up, and Tolone did quickly, also. "I will NOT hear negitivity like that!!! We're not going to die!! We are the best!!!!!" Dominia yelled back at Tolone.

"No!! We're stranded, and we're going to die!!!" Tolone yelled back.

Dominia, overcome by growing anger, slapped Tolone right in the face, and Tolone leaped across the table, and the two began getting in a heated brawl.

"STOP! STOP!" Kelvena yelled, breaking them apart. Seraphita pulled Tolone away, as Kelvena pulled Dominia away.

"This is insane!!!" Seraphita yelled.

"We can't be fighting each other!!! We have to fight the Wels!!! They are the enemy!!!" Seraphita yelled. Tolone tried to calm down, and fell to the floor, not quite being able to stand on her leg.

Feelings began to build up inside her, and she started to cry, something she told herself never to do. Dominia calmed herself down. "Tolone..." Dominia said extending her hand to help Tolone up.

"It's gotten to you, like this has gotten to all of us."

Tolone wiped the tears from her face. "It's a test, Tolone. This is...a whole new boot camp." Dominia said. Tolone looked at her, and slightly chuckled. It was rare Dominia ever cracked a joke, maybe this ordeal was changing everyone.

"Listen, we're not going to fail. We've only lost, but we've never fully failed. We're going to find land, we're going to kill these Wels, and we're going to find out how we lost our powers, then get them back." Dominia said, actually believing it herself. Tolone smiled.

"You're actually making me believe we'll win." Tolone said, cheering up.

"We are." Kelvena said. Kelvena walked over to the table, took a drink of water, and cleared her throat.

"I've got some really good news." Kelvena said.

"Right when the Wels attacked, I fixed the Radar!" Kelvena exclaimed, and the other Element's jaws dropped in joy. "THAT'S AWESOME!" Seraphita yelled.

"We'll find land, or someone!!!" Tolone yelled. Kelvena frowned slightly.

"Now...for the bad news. As much as I repaired the engine and the radar...I'm have, am, and always will be...blind. I can't see if we reach land or not. But I'll work on communications next...but we have to get rid of the Wels. That is our top priority." Kelvena finished.

"Why is it?" Seraphita asked.

Dominia cut in. "Because if the Wels aren't killed, they'll get ahold of everything we've fixed, and they'll get onto land, or whatever ship we find, and cause...problems." Dominia said. Kelvena nodded in agreement.

"I'll make the repairs. But someone has to take watch on radar and land, and killing those Wels is not an easy job, especially with our limited arsenal." Kelvena said.

Dominia nodded weakly.

"We have one flare bullet left, for an emergency, and the only two people on board armed are me and..." Dominia frowned just saying his name. Seraphita jumped in.

"It's ok! I can try and use Ramsus's sword!" Seraphita said. Dominia patted Seraphita on the back.

"You're not trained, but thanks for the attempt." Dominia said. "The only person who can use Ramsus's sword...is Ramsus. I have no choice....we're going to have to get him to his feet sooner or later, and that time is now. I'll take care of the Commander. But whatever we do, we must act fast. The Wels...they...have cocoons. Means they're spawning more. If we don't beat them now, we may not beat them ever."

"How many of them are there?" Tolone asked. Dominia shrugged.

"Two got away from our last attack...1 in a cocoon I saw, but there could be more by now...there could be anywhere from 5 to 12 Wels here." Dominia said in a grave tone.

But unlike usual, it wasn't met with a "we can't do it" remark, it was met with only a "Let's go". They all nodded, and got up to do their work. Dominia and Seraphita were going to fight the rest of the Wels if Dominia could get Ramsus's help, and Kelvena was going to get the rest of the salvager's operations going with Tolone's help. But talking to Ramsus would be the hardest task of them all.

End of Prt 2

Ramsus, slowly coming out but still deep in depression, just sat in the chair in the corner he sat in before he killed those Reapers, not speaking, moving, or eating, but just sitting in his chair, staring off into nowhere. Thinking. For a week, he'd done nothing but think. About Krelian, Miang, and quite often about the events in the past year. It was the true crossroads in Ramsus's life. Should he kill himself and end the pain, the failure now, he asked himself. He started thinking back to a real moment of triumph, wondering if he would ever have such again...

"Commander, excuse my comment..." Ramsus started. "But you have the strategy sense of a worm." he said to Commander Vanderkaum. Ramsus and Vanderkaum were aboard an advanced class cruiser around the desert, searching for pirates who had hijacked a supply transport 3 days ago. Vanderkaum looked down at Ramsus who was a few inches shorter, and stared deep into his eyes.

"Kahran...if you were any other man I'd KILL you for that remark!" Vanderkaum said, trying to scare Ramsus. But Ramsus was incapable of fear. Ramsus looked at him just as hard, and softly pushed him away.

"If you can muster enough skill, ox, anytime. And before you threaten someone, I suggest you do something about that breath of yours."

Ramsus said arrogantly. Ramsus straightened his collar, and turned his back quickly to Vanderkaum, and walked toward Miang who stood at the entrance to the bridge.

"This recovery mission is the most junk assignment I've ever had." Ramsus said to Miang. Miang smirked, and pulled her purple hair away from her eyes.

"Oh Ramsus...lighten up." she said in a soft tone. "Consider it a break from working right in the battlefield. Besides, this is a good chance for promotion." Miang stated. Ramsus raised his eyebrow at Miang.

"What do you mean, Miang? Solaris already has too many commanders...I may stay at Lt. Commander forever." Ramsus said. Miang smiled again.

"On the contary, Ramsus. You see, Vanderkaum's win-loss record isn't...what it used to be." Miang said.

"In fact, there have been reports that he's impossible to work with, he goes into suicide mode for the easiest situations, and he's more concerned about killing the enemy than winning the battle." Miang got closer to Ramsus, and talked more quietly.

"There are some people back in Gebler Headquarters talking...demotion." she finished. Ramsus looked shocked and tried to speak, but Miang cut him off.

"And...if they demote him, they will need someone to take his place." Miang winked at Ramsus. Ramsus grinned too. "So straighten up." Miang said simply.

Miang's eyes very quickly flashed purple while she looked into his eyes. She had to often do that to keep Ramsus "in line", and it wasn't easy, as Ramsus was born with resistance to even the strongest hypnosis...but it wasn't just the hypnosis that kept Ramsus to Miang, despite all the women Ramsus could have. It was the thought in Ramsus's mind that even over all the people who said he was "trash" and a mistake, that someone may actually love him. Poor sap, Miang often thought.

"Time to show Vanderkaum and this crew who the commander really is." Ramsus said with full confidence. Miang kissed him softly on the lips, and turned around for the elevator from the bridge.

"Tell them to get the Vendetta ready in the hangar now, I want it warmed up upon my arrival." Ramsus ordered the cruiser pilot. It was a week after Ramsus and Miang's conversation. Vanderkaum's head spun around as Ramsus left the bridge.

"Hey!! Kahran!!! Who do you think you are!!?" Vanderkaum yelled in total anger. "THIS IS MY SHIP! DO YOU HEAR? YOU DON'T GO OUT ON YOUR GEAR UNLESS I..." Ramsus held up his hand in ignorance.

"Shut up for once, you stinking ox." Ramsus said with force. "You're suggesting we should attack this cruiser head on, when you don't what defenses it may have at all. You never attack an enemy head on, oaf." Ramsus said arrogantly.

"We should attack divided, with 5 gears first, then you can try and attack head on, though I would suggest from the side. But it's your call, Commander Vanderkaum." Ramsus said with sarcasm in his voice.

"This crew just loves to follow your commands. So much they selected me to lead them in mutiny." Ramsus said with sarcasm again. Vanderkaum growled, but Ramsus was already on the elevator to the hangar.

The Vendetta and the 4 other standard issue Gears quickly pursued the Sand Cruiser from all sides, trying to keep up with it and firing machine gun bullets. The pirate sand cruiser, although it was escaping the chase, suddenly stopped. The Vendetta and the other 4 gears paced around it, waiting for an attack or a surrender.

"I believe they're surrending." one of the Gear pilots communicated. "That was easy." another pilot said. Ramsus refused to believe they would just surrender, however. After all, this pirate cruiser was the same that took out a supply cruiser and all of it's escort.

"Stay alert." Ramsus said into the intercom. The side of the sand cruiser caught Ramsus's eye, as it's name was hard to pronounce. It read "Yggdrasil", or something like that. "These pirates sure name their ships badly." one of the pilots said.

"Let's smash this crap, enough waiting!" another Swordknight pilot yelled. "No!" Ramsus yelled over the intercom.

"We wait for them to make a move." he commanded. The adrenaline built up in Ramsus and the other pilots as they waited. It may have been a minute, but it seemed like hours. A rough, demanding voice came over Ramsus's intercom.

"RAMSUS! STOP FOOLING AROUND AND..." just as Vanderkaum commanded, a giant, fast, red gear catapulted from the top of the top of the Yggdrasil sand cruiser.

It landed 50 feet away, and released titanium whips from it's hands, and began spinning them around. It was obviously fast, and it was a customized Gear, done well enough to rival even some of Solaris's advanced Gears.

"Sword Extend!" Ramsus commanded into his Gear, and suddenly a giant, titanium sword extended from the Vendetta's robotic hands.

"Identify yourself!" Ramsus commanded to the Red Gear over the loudspeaker. The Red Gear flipped it's whips around in it's hands, spinning them. "I'm the greatest pirate captain the world has ever seen!" a cocky, teenage sounding voice said over the loudspeaker of his Gear.

"You must be...TOAST!" it yelled. With that, the Red Gear leaped into the fray, it's whip striking one of the Swordknights near Vendetta with one strike first, then expertly following it up with a whipshot to it's leg, destroying it's leg. Two Swordknights closed in on it, but the Red Gear spun around with one of the armwhips, striking the one that came at him from the side in the stomach of the Gear, then bringing it back fast to crush the head of the Gear that came at him from the front.

He followed that up with a strike to it's side, then to the Swordknight's head, decapitating it and sending it's pilot, although alive, straight to the sand, unconscious in the head of his Gear. The two downed pilots repeatedly radioed for back-up and assistance. The two that were left, a damaged Swordknight and the Vendetta, closed in on the Red Gear.

"Last chance, pirate! Surrender or perish!" Ramsus yelled, audible for miles. The red pirate Gear itself shrugged.

"Hmmm...not in the cards." the cocky mail voice replied. With that, the Red Gear speared his right armwhip into the sand, but it speared straight back up at the damaged Swordknight, impaling it in the stomach. The Swordknight began to malfunction, the pilot radioing for help.

The Swordknight crumbled onto the sand, burning and leaking fuel. The Red Gear turned to the Vendetta.

"Now that the losers are gone...let's get it on!" the cocky voice said for all to hear.

Ramsus, sitting inside of his Gear, grinned evilly.

"My sediments exactly." he said to the Red Gear. The Red Gear sped over to strike with his armwhips, but the Vendetta hovered out of the way fast, and backfisted the Red Gear's head heavily. Vendetta heaved it's sword, and brought it down upon the stunned Red Gear's back, leaving a dent where the sword hit, but not splitting it.

"You have good armor." Ramsus said in slight shock. The stunned Red Gear, on one knee, lunged it's right armwhip at Vendetta's chest, but the Vendetta took it's sword, and blocked the shot, but the whip was wrapped around the sword. The Red Gear with blinding speed wrapped the second whip around the sword, and began to spin the hovering Vendetta around, spinning it around higher and higher off the ground.

Ramsus began getting dizzy, but contained it well. "Going for a ride?" the Red Gear yelled, the same arrogance in it's voice.

When the Vendetta was 30 feet from the ground being spun around, the Red Gear released it's whip and the Vendetta catapulted away, away high toward the night sky...vanishing from sight.

Just then, the Gebler sand cruiser fired a missile round straight at the Red Gear, striking it in the upper chest as it recovered it's power. The Red Gear fell straight to the ground, on it's behind. Vanderkaum's cruiser must have been 50 yards away, but had accurate lock. "Sigurd! Lock on some Rear Missiles!" the pilot yelled over the loudspeaker. The Red Gear got back to it's feet, but it was quickly knocked down again, except much worse as the Vendetta sped right back into the Red Gear, returning from it's "trip".

The Vendetta got to it's feet quickly, while the Red Gear stayed on the desert sand, dented and bewildered.

"This Gear has the best flying capabilities in the world." Ramsus said arrogantly to the Red Gear.

Just then, as Ramsus prepared to drive the Vendetta's sword deep into the Red Gear, a large, piercing missile struck the Vendetta's right wing, and caused a deep, burning wound in the Vendetta's shoulder. It wasn't a blast from the Yggdrasil, but a blast from his own attack cruiser. Ramsus, who's Gear already started to malfunction, yelled into the intercom with high anger when he realized who hit him.

"Who's side are you on, Vanderkaum?!!" Ramsus yelled. The attack cruiser quickly came into view, and started to slow down near the Yggdrasil. "You piece of trash!!!" Vanderkaum yelled from his attack cruiser's communications to the Vendetta.

"You're stealing my kill!!!!"

Ramsus, shocked, yelled into the intercom more.

"WHO CARES WHO GETS THE KILL?! AS LONG AS WE WIN!!" Ramsus yelled.

"PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" the Vendetta's loudspeaker yelled to the Yggdrasil.

"Boarding? Boarding!!?" Vanderkaum's voice boomed. "No boarding!!! Kill them all!!! Prepare missiles to destroy pirate cruiser!!!!" Vanderkaum's voice boomed again.

"No!" Ramsus ordered. He had to think fast, although he didn't like these pirates, it wasn't sportsman-like to kill a surrendering enemy.

"Crew of the attack cruiser, do not obey that command!" Ramsus yelled.

"Repeat, do not follow that order!!!" Ramsus yelled. Strangely enough, there was no fire from the Gebler attack cruiser.

"DAMN YOU, Ramsus!!! If I can't take them, I'll take you!!!" Vanderkaum's voice boomed.

Then the cannons atop the attack cruiser turned on the Vendetta, preparing to fire. But suddenly, a cannon from the Yggdrasil fired right into the hull of the attack cruiser. Rapid fire shots went straight to the hull, and yelling could be heard in the attack cruiser, even from the outside.

Another rapid fire shot was aimed at the back of the cruiser, as to destroy it's engine. And in almost the same instant, the Red Gear was back to it's feet, and it used it's armwhip in a flash to sever the already damaged arm of the Vendetta.

The Yggrasil was started again quite quickly, and began to pull off.

"WAIT UP!" came from the loudspeaker of the Red Gear, and it grabbed the end of Yggdrasil, as it slowly, then quickly sped away.

Ramsus couldn't feel the pain of the severed arm, but the fire and sparks flying from the left arm, he quickly noticed it.

Ramsus, tired, bruised, and barely able to make the Vendetta move, yelled choice curse words into the intercom at Vanderkaum.

But after he was done, he heard Miang say "Hello?" over his intercom.

"I think you better come in." she said.

Back in the attack cruiser, Ramsus had shut himself off with Miang in his room, and had his pants on, his bruises being treated by Miang with a small cotton ball. His room was very regal, with a king-sized bed, and was considered

more than comfortable for a military cruiser. Miang patted his bruised head softly, then started to talk to him.

"This...this is a fine mess, Kahr.." Miang said simply. Ramsus sighed.

"This is not my fault." Ramsus replied. "That war-monging idiot Vanderkaum should get his head bashed in, I had those pirates right where I wanted them." Ramsus stated. Miang smiled softly, and turned Ramsus's face to hers.

"Well don't worry about that anymore...this was Vanderkaum's operation, and it was botched. But lucky for you..."

Miang trailed off. Ramsus paid more attention.

"Lucky for you, Vanderkaum isn't sharing a bed with a person that can make one phone call to the leader of Solaris, and not only make everything straight, but make you..."

Ramsus smiled wide, and kissed Miang hard on the lips. "Congratulations, Commander Kahran Ramsus." Miang said before kissing him again.

"How much time do you need to think, Ramsus?" Dominia said, interrupting Ramsus's train of thought. Ramsus's head spun around, and he went back to normal as he saw Dominia enter.

"Why...why do you keep trying, Dominia?" Ramsus asked, sounding annoyed. Dominia had tried to be kind to him,

like Miang, but it obviously wasn't working. Personality wasn't one of Dominia's strong points.

"Listen, Ramsus. In case you haven't noticed, there are killers on board this Salvager." she said forcefully. Ramsus held up his hand in ignorance.

"Do it yourself. I want them to kill me anyway." Ramsus started.

Ramsus stood up from the chair, and paced around Dominia.

"I've had alot of time to think, being here. Time to think about that bastard Krelian, Miang, even the Gazel Ministry, who said I was worthless at every turn. All my life, all my existence, since I was a nanomachine creation inside one of Krelian's test tubes I was called worthless." Ramsus laughed at the irony.

"I didn't know it at the time, but Miang was screwing me even then. That...that woman had been screwing me in every possible way all my life. And I do mean EVERY possible way." Ramsus said, with a quick scoff.

Dominia stomped her foot. "Damnit, Ramsus. We warned you about her. Everyone warned you about her. We...we as women could pick it up. All 4 of us." Ramsus still had his back to Dominia.

"Ha. Did you and the others really warn me for my own well being? I laughed you all off. I thought it was petty...jealousy. Did you know noone EXCEPT me really liked Miang? All women hated her because she had what everyone wanted. The rich, handsome Solarian commander. All men hated her because they couldn't have her. No matter how much they wanted her, she only wanted me. Which was one of the things that kept me to her...but it was all an act. She acted like she cared, she...I thought..."

Ramsus looked down as he spoke, and started feel worse as usual.

"I...thought she loved me." Ramsus finished, almost crying. He refused to though. Dominia walked over to Ramsus, and rubbed him on the back. "You...have no idea what love is, Commander." Dominia said with confidence. But she couldn't understand how she knew, either. Ramsus raised his head, and pushed Dominia away.

"I'm tired of false love!!!" Ramsus yelled. "What do you women want with me?!!! All I did was recruit you!!! Why won't you leave me be, to die?!!" Ramsus got into Dominia's face, and pushed her again.

"Let the Reapers eat you!!! It's useless to keep on living!!! Your only purpose of life is gone, mines is gone, let's all play into Krelian's final scheme of things and..die!!!!" Ramsus yelled, the screams audible all around the Salvager.

Ramsus panted heavy, and marched away from Dominia. Dominia had enough. It was time to talk sense into him, now or never. She pushed Ramsus into the chair now, almost knocking it over. She put her finger right in his face, and looked very angry.

"You know what, Ramsus...why don't you die!? I'm sick of you parading around here in this woe-is-me attitude!!" she yelled.

"The world has turned it's back on you, yeah! You weren't meant to succeed from birth, yeah! Your girlfriend played you like a two-bit piccolo, yeah, but damnit Ramsus...GROW UP! We've got worse problems now, and none of us want to die here, only you! If you want to die, take you sword over there, and throw yourself on it! Stop wasting our time though, and our energy, and stop throwing our emotions away like trash! You want to know why we're here?

Because each of us love you to a certain degree, whether it be a students love for a teacher or a schoolgirl crush! You...you damn primadonna! We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have had to save your ass in Merkava, and there would still be a Solaris!

Noone put the gun to your head and TOLD you to kill Emperor Cain! You let Krelian twist your mind, and you played into his hands, and are you going to keep pleasing that bastard by killing yourself, like he planned? Change your fate, Ramsus!

Because none of the Elements are going to die here...but what about yourself?"

Dominia finished her speech, panting and sweating, not even believing what she said, but she wasn't sorry at all. All this was Ramsus's fault. It was time he realized that, and make up for it, she thought.

Ramsus sat there in disbelief also. Then it hit him. After a minute that seemed like eternity, he broke the silence in the room. He sighed.

"You...you're wrong." was all he said. "Leave me be. Now." Ramsus said.

Dominia marched out to the screw elevator in the greatest anger she's ever had in her life. "Dominia." Ramsus stopped her as she left. "Do...you all really love me?" Ramsus asked.

Dominia slowly turned around.

"I don't know about them, but...I do." she finally admitted. She realized what she said only after it came from her mouth, but it was true. After everything Ramsus had put them through, from the pre-apocalyptic events with Solaris to their current situation, it wasn't loyalty that kept her close to her Commander. Yes, if it wasn't for him she'd be a test subject in one of Krelian's labs, but that wasn't it. She would never know how to act on it. Just stay loyal, was all she thought. Just stay with him. She entered the screw elevator, that last thought still haunting her. She would try and sleep tonight. Tomorrow held everything.

End of Prt 3 (2 more!)

The Elements met on the bridge the following morning. Tolone looked much different than her normal ways, before she had her hair done in two ponytails on the side of her head, but now she just wore her hair in one ponytail, in the back of her head. She was also standing with the aid of crutches she found in the infirmary, due to the brutal wound she took to her leg.

The salvager had better accommodations than the team previously thought. The salvager they were trapped on had decent medical facilities, comfortable rooms (after Seraphita spent some time cleaning them), and even a new change of clothes for the girls.

Instead of the bright, flashy uniforms the Elements wore usually, each of them now wore military fatigue uniforms, and were each armed with either a knife, such as Kelvena's case, or a sword, such as Dominia's case, who was going to fight the Wels.

They all stood in a circle, in silence, waiting for someone to spark up conversation. As usual, it was Dominia to break the silence.

"Well, we're about to leave, Kelvena." Dominia told Kelvena.

"I'm tired of waiting for Ramsus to come around." she said bluntly. "Either he comes and helps us, or the Wels eat him."

Kelvena, in an extreme change, opened her eyes at Dominia.

Her eyes were totally blue, right down to the pupil. She didn't look in Dominia's direction, which showed she was still blind.

"You know, Dominia, I'm tired of closing my eyes." Kelvena said.

"I closed my eyes because I was tired of people staring at my eyes like I was a freak or something, I, like all of us, thought I was better than everyone else." she finished.

Tolone looked taken back. "You? You are the most down to earth of all of us." Tolone said to her. Kelvena shook her head in slight shame.

"No, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I wouldn't talk to a guy, or really talk to anyone else, because I thought I was above everyone, too. In fact, I think I was the most arrogant of us all. But what does it matter now? What power do we have now? We don't have our Gears, or our powers. We're just highly trained girls trapped on a Salvager." Kelvena said, then sighed deeply.

"None of us have any other friends, and except for you two," she told Tolone and Seraphita,

"We don't have family, but I'd like all of you to know, just in case one of us doesn't make it to the end of this day, I always considered you all...my friends." Kelvena said softly.

There was silence for a moment, then Seraphita smiled. "Yeah, Kelly! I've...always considered you and everyone else my friends too! We're the Elements, aren't we?" Seraphita said enthusiastically. The mood in the room began to pick up more positive. Tolone smiled next, and patted her sister on the back.

"You may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but you're my only sister." Tolone said to Seraphita.

Everyone then looked at Dominia. Dominia wouldn't smile, but kept a straight face.

"Well...there's noone I'd rather work with." Dominia said simply.

"Close enough!" Seraphita exclaimed.

"You're all making me sick." a male voice from behind them said. They all quickly turned around, and saw Ramsus, on his feet with a sword in his hilt, dressed in military fatigue pants and the ex-captain's leather coat. He was still dirty and his hair unkept, but just his presence was enough for the Elements.

"Ramsus!" Seraphita exclaimed. She ran over and hugged him, and Ramsus looked at her strangely, then pulled away. He walked over to Dominia.

"Dominia." Ramsus started.

"You are a bitch. From the minute I first knew you, you were a bitch, you remained a bitch, and you still are a bitch." Ramsus stated. Dominia's expression looked like that of anger, but before she could speak, Ramsus held up his finger for her to keep quiet.

"However...you're the leader of this team. And although Miang may not have been the greatest woman, selecting you four was the only good thing for me she ever did. I can't say I love you, I can't say I'll ever love again." Ramsus stopped, and looked at the ground.

"But if you girls want to survive, I will help you. My life is over, yes. But look at you all...not one of you is over 30, and you all still

have hope, despite what's going on. So as my last act as your Commander, I will assist you in defeating the Reapers."

Dominia nodded weakly.

"What about afterwards? When we get off this trash heap?" she asked.

"Then...I will vanish. I've helped ruin this world too much, I don't deserve to be apart of it's rebuilding." Ramsus admitted. Dominia nodded weakly again. She loved him, she knew, but she realized Ramsus may no longer be capable of love or any other emotion, they had been toyed with and used his whole life. She couldn't blame him at all.

Ramsus looked at Kelvena and Tolone.

"Good luck." he told them.

"Ramsus," Tolone started to say.

"Come back to us. We need a man around the house." Tolone said with a smirk. Ramsus, for the first time in awhile, grinned too. Ramsus then turned to Dominia and Seraphita.

"Let's go." he commanded. And all at once, Kelvena grabbed her tools and started to work on the communications line, while Ramsus, Dominia, and Seraphita left for the screw elevator to the engine room.

The three entered the engine room from the screw elevator, and the stench of the Reapers was stronger than ever.

"Damn it wreaks." Ramsus said.

"Split up." he ordered. The 3 split up in different directions, Dominia to the right, Seraphita to the left, and Ramsus climbing the engine to the catwalks above. The 3 waited for something to happen, until Ramsus ran into a green, disgusting cocoon.

"What the..." Ramsus said is disbelief. He quickly drew his sword, and in one swift slash, cut the cocoon and it's contents in half. He looked at the destroyed cocoon, and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"These things..." he started, but was interrupted by a creature in the darkness.

"You...created...us..." the creature said coarsely.

"Do...not...comp...lain..." it said. "We...grant...you...your...wish...death!" it said. Then suddenly a Reaper leaped out in front of Ramsus, growling and showing it's claws to him.

"Re...venge." it sneered. The Reaper slashed at Ramsus, but Ramsus quickly dodged and stabbed it straight in the stomach. Ignoring the pain, it spun around while Ramsus had his sword inside, and cut Ramsus deep on the cheek.

Ramsus ripped the sword out of the Reaper, and rubbed his injured face, but the reaper slashed him across the back, and quickly slashed again to the side of Ramsus's neck, but not deep enough to kill him. Ramsus was stunned and bloody, pain from his face, neck, and back.

"I...enjoy...this..." the reaper sneered.

The reaper then cut the stunned Ramsus deep into the chest, and the shoved his claws deep into Ramsus's stomach. After letting it stay for a few seconds, it ripped it's claws from Ramsus's stomach. Ramsus still stood. "DIE!" the reaper yelled, and heaved it's hand for a final strike to Ramsus's neck, but Ramsus, however in pain, ducked the slash, and thrust his blade right through the Reaper's upper chest, making it howl in pain.

But it wasn't dead.

Dominia heard the scream of pain, and yelled for Ramsus, but just then three Reapers came around the corner of the large engine, and started snarling at her, ready to kill. The one in front leaped at her, claws bared, but timing her attack just right, snapped her sword from it's hilt and split the Reaper in half as it came at her in the air.

The other two ran fast at her, but Dominia showed no signs of fear, though this was certainly one moment she wished she had her powers. As they closed in, she flipped herself high in the air, and landed behind the Reapers, and quickly slashed at one's neck, but it wouldn't bleed despite it's mortal wound. It had no blood to lose. It simply grinned weakly, but said "Re...lease...", then slumped to the ground.

The third Reaper did not appear angry, and lunged at Dominia with it's claws, scraping her arm deep. She quickly cradled it, but as her back was turned, the Reaper leaped and tried to go for a killshot to the back, but anticipating the attack, Dominia extended her blade from under her armpit, impaling the reaper as it jumped. She didn't even want to see it die, it was so haunting.

Seraphita was having similar luck, but wasn't staying to fight. Seraphita was closed in, surrounded by the reapers she was to fight. She was feeling very scared, but grabbed ahold of herself. Amidst the reapers trying to kill her and all, she smiled weakly.

"So...you are my dates for the night?" she said awkwardly. With that, she flipped backwards, and flipped off of the side of the engine, and sped like an arrow toward one of the Reapers circling her, sending it to the ground in pain. As the other two came in, she quickly dodged their double slash with a spin, and ended the spin by stabbing one of the Reapers in the back with her knife, then grabbing it by the neck, and snapping it.

It was easy for her to kill a reaper now, it wasn't even killing in her mind. It was release. She couldn't even bring herself to hate them, she felt slightly guilty for their very existence. The reaper she knocked down was helped up by it's partner, and they did a double-charge, but she rolled under their slash, making the reapers slash the engine, sparks flying.

Before she was up on her feet, she thrust her knife to the Reapers stomach, and when it grimaced, she followed it up with a slash to the neck, killing it almost instantly. The last reaper looked at it's partner, and seemed to have a look of grief for it, then it looked at Seraphita. Seraphita looked it dead in the eye. "Poor Etone." she said. "Let me help you out."

Seraphita side-stepped from the reaper's slash of anger, and stabbed it in the back of the neck as it went off balance. It fell to it's knee, then slumped to the ground. Seraphita pulled the knife out, and walked away from the bodies as quickly as she could. She felt it wasn't good to look long at the corpse of your enemy.

Ramsus started to crawl away, cradling his stomach, as the Reaper paced after him in the same manner, barely walking. It neared him finally, and stood over him.

"Look...Sol...arian." it sneered. "You...may...be...bett..er...looking...but...we...are...the...same." it said. Ramsus looked up at it, tired and bloody.

It was then he found out something scary. This disgusting, dying zombie had spoken the most sense Ramsus had heard in his life. The reaper raised it's arm for the final blow, but Ramsus quickly sliced at the Reaper's leg, severing the leg and making it fall, but Ramsus instantly followed it up with a thrust through the lead reaper's neck.

The reaper, though on the brink of final death, stared at Ramsus with a cold gaze.

"I...am...free." it said. "But...you...are...a...slave." it finished. With that, the reaper got a calm look on it's face, then shut it's eyes as to sleep. Then it slumped like all the others.

Dominia and Seraphita quickly ran over to Ramsus, who laid bleeding heavily and tired.

"Ramsus!!!" Dominia yelled. She took him in her arms, but Ramsus resisted and rolled off.

"I'm...not dying." Ramsus said. "I was created to withstand even worse wounds." he said. Dominia looked at Ramsus, and tried not to cry. "Ramsus...listen to me." she started.

"You may try to leave us, Ramsus. You may try to vanish into the wind, but...we will never let you. We will stay with you forever. It's our...job." she said.

She wasn't crying, but just needed to say that. She stood up, and helped Ramsus to his feet. Seraphita took one arm and Dominia took another, and they helped him, thier job description.

On the bridge, there was suddenly a beeping noise. Tolone's head snapped to the radar screen. "Kelvena!! Kelvena!!" Tolone yelled. Kelvena turned away quickly from the communicator.

"What is it?" Kelvena asked. "The radar!!! We've got something!!" she yelled. Kelvena gasped.

"How close?" Kelvena asked with enthusiasm.

"I don't...know about reading radars, but it looks pretty close to me! The short range scan is working!"

Tolone exclaimed.

"It's close? Get the flare gun!!" Kelvena yelled. Then Tolone grabbed the flare gun from the side of the control panel, and pushed down her crutches. She hopped on one foot quickly to the screw elevator, and headed for the top deck. When she got there, she jumped to the edge of the Salvager, and crossed her fingers with one hand, then raised the flare gun in the air, and fired. Down in the control panel, after what seemed like an eternity, there was a scratching noise over the communicator. Kelvena grabbed it with light speed.

"Yes? Come in! Come in!" she yelled. There was more scratching sound, then there was a voice, which sounded like a male's.

"Yes, unknown Salvager, come in." the voice said. Kelvena screamed in happiness, but was nervous by the next comment of what would be their rescue ship.

"Unknown Salvager, this is the airship Yggdrasil III. We see you on our radar, and a scout saw your flare. Is everything ok?" the voice asked.

But Kelvena, who was clutching the communicator, got a look of loss on her face. She was quite familiar with that ship. All the Elements were, as they had done battle with it and it's members many times. What will they do to us, Kelvena thought. All kinds of thoughts raced through her head, but she had

to respond quickly.

How was she going to decide for all of the team? Dominia loathed all of them, especially Elly Van Houten. Ramsus had given up his entire life in the attempt of killing the one named Fei. Kelvena didn't like them either, but for all Kelvena knew, this may be thier only chance for rescue.

Kelvena put the comm back to her lips, and spoke softly.

"This is Kelvena Korian of the unknown Salvager." she said.

"Assistance is required."

On the outside deck, Tolone saw the ship in the air, and tried to wave it down. It began to land, and she began her own celebration, but was cut short when she saw the ship looked awfully familiar.

Minutes later, Ramsus, Dominia, and Seraphita walked up to the bridge with a feel of triumph, and Dominia and Seraphita had smiles on their faces, but Kelvena was sitting in the control panel chair, looking sad. Her eyes were still open, as she never planned on closing them again.

"We won! We showed those Reapers who the Elements really are! We haven't lost our stuff at all!" Seraphita bragged.

"Who needs powers? We're still on top..." but Seraphita's bragging was cut short when they saw Kelvena. Ramsus didn't appear to care, only stood behind the girls and listened. His mood, as always, was grim.

"What's wrong, Kelvena?" Seraphita asked. Kelvena turned around, and looked at the trio.

"I...Tolone and I finally made contact." Kelvena said softly. Seraphita gasped, and Dominia turned around to Ramsus, and she gasped too. "That's GREAT! WE'VE SAVED! But what's the problem?" Seraphita asked.

"The only ship in the area is an airship, and it's the...Yggdrasil. I asked them to pick us up." Kelvena said in shame. Everyone's expression changed, and Ramsus quickly paid attention.

"Are you crazy?" Ramsus said sternly.

"You must be crazy. Why did you..." Kelvena cut him off.

"Commander, do you see any other ships in the area? This radar picks up just the airship, and if we don't take them, we will die out here." she said with force, something Kelvena never did.

"Did you think what they may do to us? Ramsus killed the Emperor of Solaris! To look for someone to blame, they may charge him with genocide!" Dominia exclaimed. Ramsus snapped his head to Dominia.

"Which I deserve." he said simply. Seraphita sighed.

"Aww...damn, Kelvena, are you sure we have no other choice?" she asked.

Kelvena nodded. "It's this, or death. Our rations won't last forever, and we're not sure how far off land could be. There aren't any maps on this ship." Kelvena said with despair. Dominia sighed next, and put her hand to her forehead in desperation.

"She's right. We've got no other choice. Besides, I we should find out why our Gears shut down and our powers don't work." Dominia said.

"Tolone's on the upper deck. She fired the flare." Kelvena said, and heard the water shifting and the sound of a airship, a sign that something windy was coming down.

"They'll be docked in a matter of minutes. I don't know about you all, but I will not stay on this Salvager one more hour." Kelvena stated. Wordlessly, she stood up, and pushed herself past the trio, and headed for the screw elevator, to go down to the docking bay. Everyone left looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. A few minutes later, Tolone hopped in on crutches quickly.

"Everyone!! Did...did you see?!" Tolone started yelling histerically. Everyone turned and glared at her, which gave her a clear answer.

In the docking bay, the large ship pulled in and Kelvena stood on the edge of platform, waiting bravely and patiently. The ship finished it's docking, and three people came from the the opening in the top of the ship, she couldn't see them, but one looked like a medic, another a technician, and the tall man had an eyepatch and gray hair. They walked over to her, and looked at her. She was dirty, her hair unkept, but looked determined. The medic looked at her, and examined her eyes first.

"Miss, are you blind?" the medic asked.

"Yes, but I've always been that way." she said. The man with an eyepatch looked at her more closely, and quickly picked up on her identity. "Excuse me, miss?" the one-eyed man asked.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is anyone else with you?" he asked. Kelvena nodded.

"4 other people. My name is Kelvena Korian."

The one eyed man nodded. "Yes, I thought that's who you were. My name is Sigurd. These 4 other people with you, would they happen to be named Dominia, Tolone and Seraphita?" Sigurd asked. Kelvena frowned.

"And Kharan Ramsus." a male voice from behind them said. It was Ramsus, coming down the ramp followed by the other elements. Ramsus confidently walked over to Sigurd. Ramsus grinned.

"So you're still alive, I see." Ramsus said. Sigurd couldn't believe the sight he was seeing. He had heard from Citan that Ramsus had assassinated the Emperor of Solaris, then died in Merkava, but his presence now obviously killed those rumors. Ramsus was bloody on different parts of his body, and had trouble walking. Sigurd did not smile back at Ramsus.

"Kahr. Rumors had it you were dead. We were just flying around, and look what we have stumbled across."

he said. Sigurd turned around, and headed back into the ship.

"Wait here. There's a few people that would just love to see you now that we know you're alive."

The Elements frowned, but Ramsus stood firm, the expression on his face not changing.

End of Prt 4

After 5 hours, the nightmare for the Elements finally seemed to be over. They were aboard the comfortable Yggdrasil, they stuffed thier faces with real food, and had changed into cleaner clothes, those used by the maintenance crews. But none of the people they knew from before had come to see them yet, and they were glad, even Ramsus. After everything was done, Dominia requested the Salvager be sunk, in respect for the dead Wels.

Explosives were set, and the Salvager was sunk, after some kind words by the girls and the crew of the Yggdrasil. Ramsus was not to be found anywhere. While there, the 4 women decided that before they would rest for awhile, they would ask Sigurd about everything going on. While in the air, and in the lounge of the Yggdrasil, the 5 sat down and decided to discuss it.

After all 5 were settled, the butler, Maison, brought them some tea.

"Ahhh..." Seraphita said, taking a sip of tea.

"Kind of like old times." she told Tolone. Sigurd glared at Seraphita. "Old times are done, miss." Sigurd said bluntly. "Stop calling us that. I'm Sera..." Sigurd cut her off.

"I know all your names." he said. "Now, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?" he asked impatiently.

Dominia cut straight to the chase.

"Well, we were trapped on that Salvager for quite some time. Ramsus is alive right now because after all of your friends bailed out of Merkava, we took Kahr at the last minute, and fled out of there at top speed, barely escaping. After a day, the world began crumbling under our very eyes. There was an enormous explosion in the sky, humans started turning into angel-like creatures and being drawn toward an odd looking mass on the ground. We ran from it as quickly as we could, we'll admit.

Around 10 hours later, we were flying over the ocean, heading toward a place to land and refuel our Gears we were flying in, our Gears suddenly shut down, and we all plummeted into the ocean. We barely escaped our Gears in time, and if it wasn't for the Marinebasher's buoyancy, we would have died. We were able to drift, and found an abandoned Salvager, which had a few supplies, a broken engine, and rations, but it had remaining Reapers from the reaper attack that killed the original crew. Before that happened, we tried to use our powers in all sorts of ways, such as flight, firemaking, and creating a wave that could send us to land, but then we discovered our Ether powers were gone.

Without our powers, , however, we were still able to defeat the Wels, despite Kahr's repeated suicide attempts and extreme depression. Kelvena was able to repair the engine, the radar and the communications with what little time and tools she had."

Dominia took a drink of her tea, and continued talking.

"That's when we came across you. Now, Sigurd, we'd like to know why our powers and Gears don't work, and what has been going on in the outside world for the past 3 weeks." Dominia tapped her finger on the table, and drank more of her tea. She was suprised by how good it was.

Sigurd nodded, and drank some of his tea. "This is going to be a little hard for you to take, so prepare yourselves." Sigurd began.

"Your Gears, your ether powers, they don't function, and never will function again. Noone's will." he said bluntly.

Almost at once, all the women gasped, and started asking why, but Sigurd held up his hand, trying to finish.

"After you saved Ramsus in Merkava and Deus awakened, people around the world started becoming Seraphs, and this pretty much spelled the apocalypse. Cities fell, people died. Complete chaos. Fei, the man Ramsus hated with everything he was, gained the most powerful Gear known to man, Xenogears. Fei, along with the rest of our team, was able to defeat Deus, but at the same time disabled all Gears and all Ether powers...forever. Deus stored these powers that kept the Gears and Ether powers going, after Deus was destroyed, so were your powers."

Sigurd eyed all of totally stunned team.

"There are no Elemental powers for you to use, and you will never use your Gears again. You are like any other women now, all people are equal." Sigurd said. Dominia looked up at Sigurd, trying to recover from her shock.

"What...what happened to Elly Van Houten?" Dominia asked.

"She was saved by Fei. Krelian is gone, never to return. You can call it death, you can call it vanishing. But neither Krelian or Miang will ever been seen again." Sigurd said.

Kelvena took a sip of her tea, her hands shaking, however.

"What are you going to do...to us?" Kelvena asked. "We did commit crimes that may have done damage to this world..." Kelvena started to say, but Sigurd cut her off.

"This world has no true law. We're rebuilding mankind from scratch. That means everyone starts from scratch. You women, you may have done some very wrong things, but you were following orders, correct?" Sigurd asked.

"We never truly hated you, you just annoyed all of us, trying to kill us and all." Sigurd said with a smirk, then drank some tea.

"Ramsus may be a different story, however. So may you, Dominia." he said, looking at Dominia.

Dominia glared at Sigurd. "What are you talking about?" she asked demandingly.

"You and Ramsus." he started.

"You both performed actual criminal acts. I was told by people who survived Nortune that you led an attack...to kill them all. Then I was told by an eyewitness to the battle that you actually enjoyed your work." Sigurd said, glaring at Dominia. Dominia's expression turned to anger.

"No...I didn't enjoy it. I..I was simply caught up in the heat of battle!" she explained.

"I was following orders, as you said!" she yelled. Sigurd shook his head.

"Not according to our eyewitness. Another eyewitness of ours reports you broke into Shevat, and ranted on insanely, then dropped it's defenses."

Sigurd leaned across the table, and stared at Dominia.

"Our eyewitnesses all agree on one thing..." Sigurd said in a rough tone.

"That during those times of war, you were criminally insane." he said. Dominia bared her teeth, an got right into Sigurd's face.

"I...I demand to meet these eyewitnesses you speak of! They're liars! All of them! I am not a psychotic!" she yelled. Sigurd nodded.

"We're going to decide what to do with you and Ramsus. At our destination, you'll meet up with Citan, whom I believe you know. He's a doctor. None of you others will be put on trial however. You are free to leave at any time." Sigurd told Kelvena, Tolone, and Seraphita.

Seraphita looked appalled.

"The hell we are! We aren't leaving when our friend and Ramsus are on trial!" Seraphita yelled. "Yeah!" Tolone added.

"We're not going anywhere! Where are we headed, anyway?" Tolone asked.

"The Snowfields." Sigurd said simply. "There, you'll find everyone who you fought before. You may even find they're not very forgiving depending on whom you talk to." he said. Sigurd stood up, and pushed his chair in.

"We've been out searching for world survivors, like yourselves. We've succeeded somewhat, and so you won't think I'm a bastard, you are all free to eat what you like, and you'll get fine quarters. As far as you three," Sigurd said, pointing at Kelvena, Tolone, and Seraphita,

"All is forgiven. You can go live life as you care, even become apart of this crew. However, for right now, I will be placing guards at all of your quarters. Just to be sure." Sigurd said sternly.

Seraphita looked angry, but before she could yell choice words at him, he had turned around and headed for the bridge, where he was needed. Dominia still had the look of anger on her face, and it would not leave her.

Dominia sighed, and refused to think about her predicament. It wasn't a trial, but what would they do to Dominia? She admitted she'd just done too much while in Gebler, but she had changed, so had the other Elements, even Ramsus, in his deep, depressing sort of way realized the error of his ways. If only someone would realize this...but even she knew she couldn't get off scott free for what she did, this being a new world or not.

"Dominia! We've got to get outta here!" Seraphita exclaimed.

"We can't let them question you, they might execute you for all that stuff you did! You were just following..." Dominia cut Seraphita off, raising her hand slightly. She looked grim, and sat back in her chair.

"No, whatever eyewitnesses Sigurd speaks of, they're right. I was...insane. Power crazed. I have been the cause of a quite a few people to die, and I did it because...I wanted all those inferior to be gone. I felt...they were a waste of space." Dominia then scoffed.

"Land-dwellers we called them. Lambs. Now, what are we? There isn't a Solaris, there are no ether powers. Everyone's equal." Dominia said. "Dominia!" Seraphita exclaimed again, but this time Kelvena cut her off.

"Dominia's right. Just because this world is reforming, it doesn't totally mean all old things are buried. If Dominia and Ramsus did all these things, it's time they atone." Kelvena said. Kelvena stood up, and cleared her throat.

"As for me, I will spend the rest of my life atoning for those days we were...killers. We weren't soliders, we were killers. And I will make up for it any way I can."

Tolone sighed, and leaned on the table, her hands on her face.

"We survived the Salvager just to end up trapped again. We have to start our lives over...this is a second chance for society, and it's a second chance for us, too." Tolone said.

Kelvena started to leave, to get some much deserved rest, and Tolone later left on her crutches, followed by Seraphita, but all Dominia would do is sit around, thinking about everything she had done, and requesting tea over and over again, but Maison was happy to give it to her.

"You...I've heard that voice before." Kelvena said to the young, blonde haired guard outside of her room.

She couldn't see him, but the guard had on a brown leather jacket, had blue eyes, and blue jeans, with matching leather boots. He didn't sound any older than 17, though.

"Yes...I know who you are, also." the young guard said. "You're much nicer when you're not trying to kill me, though."

Kelvena quickly put it together, the young voice and obviously one of the few people she fought and lived to tell about it, so it was a young man named Billy Lee Black, who she'd fought at the Anima Relic dungeon, when his Gear changed into an Omnigear, only to some time later no longer function, like everyone's. Despite the small shock, she tried to be polite, like Sigurd told her, her slate was clean.

"Yes...hello Mr...Black, is that right?" Kelvena asked. Billy nodded.

"You can call me Billy." Billy looked at her, and noticed her eyes weren't closed for once.

"Why did you always have your eyes closed?" Billy asked her, showing interest. Kelvena smiled.

"I didn't want people to stare at me like some kind of freak, because I'm...blind." she admitted. Billy shrugged.

"Nah, you're too pretty to be a freak. I've been asked to watch your room, for your own protection. Some people on this ship aren't too happy with you guys." Billy said. Kelvena blushed from the remark that she was pretty.

"However, I thought you were all just misunderstood though. But that's me, other guys think you were evil or plain insane."

Billy stated.

"I'm also watching because Sigurd's afraid you 4 might try to spring Ramsus. A few people want to have words with that guy."

Kelvena nodded.

"Well, thanks for your...protection." Kelvena said.

"Weren't you an Etone? We had a file on all of you so...we know these things."

Kelvena said. Billy nodded weakly.

"In the past. All in the past. I even burned the old robe I had...now I just believe in myself." Billy said firmly.

"Well, goodnight." Kelvena said, entering her room. "Nice guy." she said, laying down on her bed, and in seconds, she was asleep, for the best sleep in a long, long time.

The following 2 days, the Elements rested themselves, and cleaned up well. Dominia still watched after Ramsus, and he didn't call her Tolone's leg started to heal, Ramsus started eating food, and Seraphita began flirting around with mechanics in the lounge, returning to her old self.

Sigurd and Billy Lee Black were the heads of the ship, as Sigurd needed help in case of rescues, and everyone else was busy. Billy and Kelvena actually started eating meals together, as Billy liked her. Kelvena reminded him of his sister, who was waiting for him back in the Snowfield Ruins. There was a year's difference in age, Kelvena was older than Billy, but he just said "Older women are cool.", sounding a bit like his father.

Kelvena liked his company. The day of their arrival, a few hours before, Ramsus went to all of the girls and told them he wanted to see them. He said it was very important, and that it concerned them all. So 3 hours before their arrival at the Shevat Remains, Ramsus gathered them in his quarters. Dominia stood up, while Kelvena sat in a chair, and Tolone and Seraphita sat on the bed.

"The guys on this place are too cute!" Seraphita exclaimed. "There's this one mechanic up on the bridge who..."

"Oh please!" Tolone said in response.

"Who on this ship haven't you got around?" Tolone snapped. Seraphita smirked at her sister.

"Oh, jealous. I've got more guys in an hour than you do in a day!" Seraphita replied.

"If you approach them, it doesn't count, airhead!"

Tolone snapped back. Kelvena turned around quickly.

"Please, we were brought here to listen to Ramsus, not to bicker." she said simply.

Seraphita and Tolone both looked at Kelvena as if she was crazy. "Look! Blondie's girlfriend!" Seraphita said, giggling at Kelvena.

"The one-guy lady. He's cute, Kel, but a church boy? You're more shameless than we are!" Tolone exclaimed. Dominia and Ramsus looked at the three like they were crazy as they sat around and yelled at each other, but Dominia was so relieved her only friends were going back to normal.

Just a week ago, they weren't sure they would see the next. Now, they were back to normal, maybe better. Ramsus held up his hand, and brought silence to the room. He stood up, and cleared his throat.

"I'd...like to tell you all something. Something very important that I've known about for quite some time, but I never felt it was important to tell you. I'm not even supposed to know it, I was never meant to. And it concerns all four of you." Ramsus said firmly.

Seraphita shrugged.

"What could be that important, Kahr? It sounds big, let's hear it already." she said. Ramsus glared at her, and she quickly shut up.

He looked at all of the women, and began to speak.

"About 6 months after I recruited you all for the Elements and a few of your missions, I was looking through your personal files. I needed to know enough about you, there were traitors amongst Gebler at that time, you know." Ramsus said. His mind started to drift back to a year and a half ago, where he read their files.

Ramsus walked into the main operation room, with a cup of coffee in his hands, and sat down at the computer panel. He quickly pulled up a file amongst a menu that had several options:

The Ramsus Project

The Contact

The Guardian Angel Project

Gazel Ministry Plan

Elements Personal Files

Ramsus smirked at the other options. "What little gems these computers have. My whole life is on this thing...too bad I don't have the password." Ramsus said to himself. He quickly clicked on the Elements Personal Files options, which didn't need a password. There were several names under that option

Dominia Shoran

Kelvena Korian

Tolone Redblade

Seraphita Redblade

"Dominia...what a bitch." he muttered to himself. He saw potential leadership in her, however. Her file read:

Name: Dominia Shoran

Age: 25

Height: 5'9

History: The first of the "Elements" project, artificially inseminated birth, after rough selection, was chosen as the most healthy

child, and bioscans showed potential Ether power. Infused with the ability to use every elemental ether power as a baby, due to it's success of all other

tests. To prove the engineer's theory this could be the strongest an "Element" subject could get, she was given to a land dweller family. Testing showed

no results, as subject, given the name "Dominia", was never knew about her powers, until she used them in a vain attempt to protect her family. She was captured and forced into Jugend, where Commander Ramsus Kahr took notice of her abilities. Constantly getting in fights, showed to be a recluse and a zealot, but showed expert fighting skills and even more impressive Gear piloting. Made a first class citizen, and an elite Gebler Solider, until called upon by Ramsus to lead the Elements.

Ramsus thought for a moment. "Hmmm...I didn't know these things. The Elements are a project? I have to read on." Ramsus said to himself again.

Name: Kelvena Korian

Age: 17

Height: 5'7

History: In failure to wait for results of Dominia, a second insemination was called upon, and Kelvena as a baby not only showed Ether ability in bioscans, but extremley high intellegence for an infant. However, it was discovered she was blind, but the other subjects had already been disposed of.

Kelvena was infused with every Ether ability to master water, and different from the Dominia project, was given to a first class family for adoption.

Proceeded with high results, as in Jugend she was at the top of her class. An intellegence of 175, and also proved higher senses than anyone else, despite her lack of sight. Ability to stay underwater for 10 minutes, and mastered the ability to use it. Recruited for the Elements after Jugend graduation.

"Nice girl." Ramsus said. He read on.

Name: Tolone Redblade

Age: 16 1/2

Height:5'6

History: Inseminated and born approximately 9 months before the subject Seraphita. Though lacking intellegence of Dominia or Seraphita, bioscans showed that with age, Tolone would gain extra enhanced-strength. Given to first class family, proved to be as good as hoped. In Jugend, became a fighting league champion, and piloting skills were excellent. Was infused with Wind Element as baby, and was recruited for the Elements while still in Jugend, as the Commander reserves that right.

"The one with the ponytails." Ramsus said to himself. He read the last name.

Name: Seraphita Redblade

Age: 15

Height:5'5

History: Though the birth body grows weaker giving birth, one more Element remained undone. Earth, Water, and Wind were completed, but Fire was not. Test subject Seraphita was born, and showed lower intellegence and power than any others, but with the birth body weakening, it was determined this was the best it could get. Subject Seraphita was given to same family as subject Tolone, and infused with Fire powers. Though not as advanced as her sister, it is determined she is still quite powerful, as her piloting skills are incredible. Constantly distracted by opposite sex. Recruited for Elements while in Jugend, but was the 2nd highest in her class, her sister being the first.

Ramsus took a sip of his coffee, and laid it back down. There was more.

Also see: Birth Body

Elements Gears

Ramsus was curious, and clicked on Birth Body.

This area is classified. You must have level 8 access.

Ramsus looked at the screen quizzically. Ramsus typed in his password "attednev", and clicked on Birth Body again.

The Elements were all born from the same body, that of a woman named Shera Muriam, who was called by sir Krelian "Miang."

The birth body gave birth 4 times, each child being slightly weaker. After the fourth child, subject Miang died after childbirth. She had been forced to

do nothing but breed. These children are born for the pure purpose of protecting Kahran Ramsus until his purpose is completed, then their usefulness wll be expired.

Ramsus was shocked by reading it. Miang? What did Miang have to do with all of this? Ramsus quickly warded it off in his mind. "Krel...Krelian always calls his aides Miang I guess. Miang is way too young to give birth to the Elements...but wow. They're all sisters, not just Seraphita and Tolone." Ramsus said. He closed the windows, and left the computer, still not believing anything about Miang. He decided he would never tell the girls, it wouldn't make any difference if they were sisters or not. Not to Ramsus.

Dominia turned to the wall, her arm on her head, leaning. Tolone and Seraphita looked at each other oddly, and Kelvena just sat still, her mouth wide open. Ramsus sat in a chair, and leaned back.

"Yes. You are all sisters. The forming of the Elements was planned from your birth. And one of Miang's earlier forms...was your mother." Ramsus said gravely.

Dominia turned to Ramsus. "Miang...that...she's our mother?" Dominia asked, not yet recovering from the shock.

"An earlier form." Kelvena said. "Miang could possess any women, from what we heard at Merkava."

There was nothing but silence in room for a minute. Seraphita stood up, and started talking.

"Hey...why is everyone so glum?!" Seraphita started. "You'd think we'd be happy! Now we're sisters for real!"

Seraphita exclaimed with enthusiasm. Seraphita smiled, and bear-hugged Tolone.

"Now we've got more!" Seraphita told her. Tolone looked at Seraphita strangely, then smiled too.

"You DO have a purpose on this team! If it wasn't for you, we'd all go crazy with boredom!" Tolone told Seraphita.

Dominia stood up fully, and walked over to Tolone and Seraphita.

"But we're the daughters of Miang! Not descendants, direct daughters! Do you realize the gravity of that?" Dominia stated.

Kelvena stood up.

"Yes, we do. It means being a female dog runs in the family." Kelvena said, then smiled. Then, for a very rare occurrence, Dominia smiled at that remark.

"I was wrong." Ramsus started, then everyone turned to him. "Maybe Miang did do one thing right for me. That's creating you all." Ramsus said, finally admitting he cared for the Elements. Dominia walked over, and slowly placed a kiss on Ramsus's right cheek.

"That, she did." Dominia said, pulling away. Seraphita gasped.

"Was that an emotion? From Dominia? Things really are looking up!" she exclaimed.

After those 3 hours, filled with nothing but laughter and the team being turned into a family, they landed at the Snowfield Hideout.

Kahran was escorted by guards to a holding room, as was Dominia. Kelvena met up with Primera, Billy's smaller sister.

Kelvena could see why Billy compared her to Primera, because this girl would not speak. Maybe the "priest" part of Billy had not vanished afterall,

as he kept feeling the need to help someone. Billy soon came to her once, and told her that Shevat needed good mechanics, especially one who could fix up a destroyed Salvager alone. She decided to help, but her nor Tolone or Seraphita had seen any of the opposite "team" they had fought so many times,

until Tolone was the first.

Walking around lifting objects was a large, green, hulking demihuman with yellow hair. He noticed her, and snarled at her, remembering a time where they fought, but unlike many people threatened by Rico, she wasn't intimidated. In fact, she just kicked him in the groin. After that, people decided they wouldn't treat the Elements like that, despite past transgressions. The green haired 20 year old Emeralda, would even start to get along with Seraphita. Seraphita noticed how sealed off Emeralda made herself, and then tried to show her how to come out of her shell, and even learn proper speaking. Bart Fatima, the pirate, showed up from his attempts at rebuilding a place called Aveh, It was evident all around that despite whatever feelings people had inside about them, or whatever they did, maybe the Elements weren't so bad, or Kelvena, Seraphita, and Tolone anyway.

The former Shevat citizens had the same opinion about Dominia, who endangered their lives, and to them, who had not seen her, seemed like a cold woman. They were kept inside of the holding rooms for two days, until some unexpected guests (to Ramsus and Dominia anyway) arrived. Apparently Citan arrived from a place called Lahan which he was working to rebuild, and made a special trip over just to see these two, to decide what to do with them.

Ramsus was asleep in a chair in his room, and then Citan, know to Ramsus as Hyuga, entered the room. Ramsus quickly awoke, and looked at him. Citan didn't grimace or seem angry, but had the calm looked he always had. Citan calmly sat down, and put his hands on the table, folded.

"We're shocked you survived, Kahr." Citan said. "And I have to admit, we weren't exactly bent on saving you."

Ramsus nodded weakly.

"I understand this. I wasn't intending on leaving Merkava myself. Those...girls rescued me. I didn't ask that, but they did."

he said.

"Ramsus, did Krelian even tell you why he wanted you to kill Cain? I mean really? Emperor Cain was trying to save this world and Solaris, but you played such a major role in all this." Citan said forcefully.

"I didn't care about the gravity at the time. I'm not sure I do now. All I cared about was being the best on this planet and Solairs, what I was created for.

Now, however, it doesn't seem so important anymore. Nothing does." Ramsus said.

"I'm not even supposed to be alive. The Elements...I never expected anything from them before, but at the very end there they were, to save my life." Citan nodded.

"Ramsus, you suffered from extreme vain your whole life. Have you ever really thought about anyone but yourself? Ever? The Elements saved your life, and you seem sorry they did." Citan said.

"If anything, you should thank them. Not everyone may be thankful to them that they saved your life, I can't be honest I'm glad they did. Emperor Cain was...not just my employer and our leader, but he was my friend. He believed, out of all Solarians, that I was worthy of being a "guardian". But then I ask myself, would it really matter being angry at you? If Krelian hadn't got you to kill Cain, he would've found someone else, and then killed you." Citan lowered his head.

"Ramsus, there's only one thing that can be said about you. Power has it's price, and either way, you would have to pay it. I...just pity you, Kahr."

Citan said grimly.

"We don't plan on jailing you or execution, we just wanted to see you, then you are free to do as you wish. We won't punish anyone for whatever part they had in society's fall, too many of us would be responsible, wheter we knew it or not. You're no longer a form of threat, but Ramsus...now that you have a rare second chance at life, please use it for someone other than yourself." Citan tried to suggest.

Ramsus hung his head low, then leaned back in his chair. Citan stood up, and walked from the room.

Ramsus faced to the truth, he'd never thought of anyone but himself his whole life, even when someone tried to help him. Ramsus realized something he should have a long time ago. Instead of anger at Cain, or Fei, for being better than him and trying to kill them for being called "trash" by the Gazel Ministry and Krelian, he realized he should've killed the Gazel Ministry and Krelian, maybe then, he'd been of some real use to the world. Now, he felt he was going to do something that would really be of use.

The Elements, he realized, would never pursue their own lives as long as he was their "leader". Anything they did was because of him, his own selfishness hurting everyone but himself. If he was their commander, it was his responsibility to give them

an "honorable discharge" now that their services had been completed.

"Yes, that's what they deserve. An honorable discharge." Ramsus said to himself. Then, Ramsus took his sword from the bedside, put it in the sheath, and strapped it on to his waist. He walked over to the dresser, where there was a notepad and a pen. He began to write for a some minutes, then laid his pen down. He then marched out of the door, and there was commotion in the center room.

"What's going on? Where's Ramsus?!" Dominia pushed past her guards yelling.

Kelvena, Tolone, and Seraphita rushed to the center area, and saw guards armed with guns looking around for Ramsus.

"Where did Ramsus run off to?" Tolone asked. Everyone looked around for him, then Billy came in the center of the room, a gun in his hand.

"They keep telling me he escaped." he told them.

"They said he injured two guards, then headed for the outside fields. I guess we should find him." Billy said.

Billy walked off toward the entrance of the Snowfield Hideout, going with the other guards. The Elements all looked at each other.

"Ramsus has ran off?" Tolone asked, shocked.

"Why would he do that?" Seraphita asked. Dominia didn't say anything, but ran towards Ramsus's room. The others followed her, and Dominia began looking all over the room, looking for Ramsus's sword. Dominia then stopped, and turned to the others.

"Ramsus took his sword. I'm not sure what he's planning on doing." Dominia said.

"If it was suicide, he'd done it here. I'd like to know what's going through that bastard's head." Dominia said, sounding annoyed. Seraphita looked around, and saw a note on the dresser.

"Look! Ramsus wrote something!" Seraphita shouted. Everyone except Kelvena tried to see it, but Dominia snatched it quickly, much to Seraphita's dismay.

Dominia started reading it.

"It says...For unwavering service to the ranks of Gebler and completion of tasks given, I hereby give the women known as the Elements an honorable discharge, may whatever lives they pursue be good ones." Dominia read it with slight remorse in her voice.

"Oh yes...it says...Thank you." Dominia finished. Dominia looked up, and crumpled the note, throwing it to the ground. She marched around the room, seeming angry, to hold back whatever other feelings she was holding in.

"No!" Dominia shouted with anger. "No! This isn't right! I don't accept this!"

Dominia shouted more. She quickly ran out of the room, followed by the others. None of them knew what Dominia was thinking. Dominia ran into her room, and grabbed her sheath and sword that were hanging from her bedpost. She took a large coat from the bed too, put it on, and headed for the hideout entrance. The other Elements ran after her, though they weren't ready.

"Dominia!" Tolone shouted.

"Where are you going?"

Dominia's head snapped back.

"I'm going to find Ramsus! He won't do this! He won't just leave! This isn't right!" Dominia yelled. Kelvena sighed.

"Dominia...why isn't it?" Kelvena said, a shock to all.

"Kelvena! What are you talking about?" Dominia shouted at her. Kelvena stood unwavering.

"Ramsus...yes he is running away! But do we have to keep chasing him? We are relieved of duty!" Kelvena yelled.

"Has it occurred to you that maybe the comm...I mean Ramsus doesn't want help? That maybe he doesn't need it?" Kelvena yelled forcefully.

Dominia grimaced her face in anger at Kelvena.

"How much you've changed, you traitor! You're betraying your job, and your honor!" Dominia yelled.

"What job? Look around you, Dominia! There is no more job!" Tolone said, now on Kelvena's side. Dominia could only stand shocked at her friends. She just yelled in the extreme stress, and ran out into the Snowfields. Seraphita turned to Kelvena and Dominia.

"What is wrong with you?! If this was a year ago, we would've been the first out there!" Seraphita yelled. "Ramsus doesn't help! Ramsus is choosing his path, don't you see?" Tolone said sharply.

"Listen! We are so bound to Ramsus, he knew we couldn't go on with our own lives until he was gone. This is why he's left us! Don't you see? His last order to us...is to leave him be!" Kelvena exclaimed.

Seraphita looked at Kelvena, looking like she still didn't understand, but she really did.

"I know that much! We can't let Dominia go alone, though! She's not only our partner and leader, but our sister! We can't let her follow after him alone!" Seraphita told them.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to help her! My last act as an Element, and yours too!" Seraphita yelled back to them, heading for the room where her knife and armor were.

Kelvena and Tolone looked at each other, in shock. The whole time, Seraphita seemed like a ditsy, over-eager teen, but showed she had more comprehension of some things than they did. Life now changed even her.

"Seraphita's right. We have to help Dominia." Tolone told Kelvena.

"But Kelvena...why is Dominia chasing after him like this?" Tolone asked, needing to know.

"Don't you see, Tolone?" Kelvena started.

"She's in love with him! She can't go on with life normally even if Ramsus is gone! She can't imagine herself not knowing where he is always! She'd never admit it, but it's true." Kelvena said. "At any rate though, we have to help her!" Kelvena said, turning to get her own weapon and armor.

One of the things Ramsus was created for was the ability to not freeze to death, so surviving in the cold was no problem. He did have to eat, however, so he killed animals and ate them raw. The searches for him stopped after 1 day.

People didn't think he was worth rescuing, other people didn't think it was a rescue at all, that if they brought him back, it would be more like an arrest. He had the right to choose his own path now, and running off was that path, people thought. However, Dominia wouldn't stop pursuing him, and her team wouldn't stop pursuing her.

Billy Lee Black came with them, solely to aid Kelvena. Dominia was like a insane detective, she wouldn't sleep or eat often, just for the purpose of catching up to Ramsus. She was possessed. For a week they sought Ramsus, as he actually tried to lose them. Until Dominia finally found him, on the shores of the Snowfield lands. The other Elements were there with them. Dominia looked at Ramsus, his clothes tattered and dirty, his sword bloody. He was resting, and didn't even see them coming. He spinned around when he heard them, and saw Dominia first, her face full of contempt, but he didn't give her the chance to talk. He wanted to end this here and now, not for himself, but for all of them, so they could have the life that they deserved.

Ramsus turned around, and looked up at Dominia while resting on the snow. "What...what do you want, Dominia? Why are you here? Can't you get your own life?" Ramsus sneered at her.

"Can't you? I'm trying to do this for you. You can't live for a dead purpose any longer." he told her, the sound of desperation in his voice. Dominia looked down at him, and wiped her freezing nose.

"We...I can't, Ramsus. We worry too much about you." Dominia said. Ramsus looked back at the other Elements, who were watching anxiously, even Billy, who didn't really care for coming along except to watch after Kelvena.

"You dragged them out here, didn't you? Your own sisters. Can you see they're trying to live their lives? Take their example, and create your own existance. Don't live for someone else." Ramsus said. Dominia stared at Ramsus, a stare that burned to his very soul.

"That's the problem with you, Kahr. That's one of the points of life! I won't live for myself, because I, myself, have nothing." Dominia said, sadness in her voice.

"What are you going to do? Kill yourself? What kind of madness is that? Or are you going to run off and be depressed always?" she scolded.

"I have realized in looking for you, that maybe watching after you wasn't just some Gebler assignment, but my real purpose." Dominia said.

Ramsus looked up at her.

"Leave me." he said simply. "LEAVE ME NOW!" he shouted. Dominia kept staring at him. She rested on the snow with him, getting closer to him.

"No. I can't, and I won't. Not ever." Dominia said sternly. "And deep down, you don't want me to." Dominia said. When she said this, Ramsus realized something. She wasn't stalking him, but was too devoted to him to just leave. This must be real love, Ramsus thought. Not the kind where the woman lays with you and you think she loves you, but real devotion. She knew herself though.

"Ramsus...I'm not Miang. I'm not outgoing like Seraphita, or sweet like Kelvena, but there is one thing I know certain..." Dominia said, getting very emotional. "Howeverr, I can treat you better than anyone else, and you will never be trash to me."

Ramsus's expression of anger left him, and he looked across to Dominia sympathetically.

"I see now." Ramsus said. "Now I see."

Dominia kneeled down next to him. "Please, let me follow you." she said, tears starting to form. Ramsus looked at the sea in front of him, then back to Dominia.

"Dominia...I don't know where I'm going, or if I'll ever see any of the Elements ever again." he said.

"But Dominia...you are welcome to follow. I can't say I can return any feelings you have towards me, ever, but I will not reject them. Not anyone's, not anymore." he said, any anger he had vanishing.

The others came up from behind, and looked at the pair.

"Dominia? Are you ok?" Tolone asked, shocked that Dominia was actually showing emotion besides anger. Dominia looked up at Tolone, clearing her eyes.

"I'm fine...I've just chosen my life's path." Dominia said.

It took them a week to get back to the Snowfield base, and in shock to everyone, the hard work of the people there was paying off, as buildings were already being formed, there was plenty of food, and to Dominia's shock, Elly Van Houten, who she once hated more than anyone, was there from her own helping to rebuild a place called Lahan with Fei, and showed up just to see her, only to find out Dominia would be leaving with Ramsus, possibly never to return.

They talked for quite some time, with Elly stating that maybe the hole in Dominia's body had finally been filled with a heart. Dominia couldn't bring herself to hate Elly anymore, as she found Elly had been right the whole time, about everything. Being wrong wasn't the worst thing to Dominia anymore, it stopped mattering. The day Ramsus and Dominia were to leave, they parted on fine enough terms. Billy was standing around when he was approached by Ramsus, who spoke to him.

"Hm. So you're Jesiah's son." Ramsus said. Billy didn't know how to talk to Ramsus, and just weakly nodded.

"Your father has some real drive, young man. He's a real...character." Ramsus then grinned.

"You know your friend, Fei? Tell him...tell him..."

Ramsus said, thinking.

"Tell him I'm sorry. And that...I'm no longer angry with him for something he had no part of. " Ramsus said, regret in his voice.

Billy nodded.

"I will. But Ramsus...if Fei was here, I'm sure he'd tell you to do one thing." Billy said.

"What is that?" Ramsus asked.

"Atone. Spend the rest of your life making up for your mistakes, because you ruined so many others." Billy said.

"Even me, I'm doing that now. The Wels I killed may have wanted to die, but that doesn't mean they deserved it. I myself, I have to atone. And Fei would tell you too, also." Billy said. Ramsus nodded weakly.

"That Kelvena...she thinks very highly of you." Ramsus said. "Take care of her."

"I will. I really mean that." Billy said. With that, Ramsus turned around, and started looking for the other Elements.

Supplies were gathered, and the time for Ramsus and Dominia's departure had come. The whole team walked to the nearest shore which was 3 hours away instead of a week, at the shore was a boat that Kelvena and other people made out of parts of dismantled Gears, with a fuel engine. When they reached the shore, they put the supplies on the ship, and prepared to leave.

Dominia walked over to them, and looked at all of them. She started to realize what these people had become through all the time they'd been together. They'd gone from being her subordinates, to her partners, to her teammates, to friends, then to sisters. It was harder to leave them than she thought. Everyone changed so much from what they were before. Tolone had only one ponytail, Kelvena always kept her eyes open despite she was blind, and Seraphita had even matured some. She was still the biggest flirt in the world, Dominia thought, but nobody's perfect, which was also new to Dominia.

"I really can't believe we're separating." Seraphita said.

"We're not separating." Dominia responded quickly.

"We're pursuing other things, right?" Tolone added.

"Yes. We'll meet each other soon, I hope." Kelvena said. Dominia looked at her.

"We will. I may get bored. Ramsus is still depressing." Dominia said with a smirk.

All the others chuckled. There was silence for awhile.

"Dominia...don't go too far away." Tolone said, sadness growing.

"Why? I'm not your leader anymore." Dominia stated.

"No, you're not." Seraphita said.

"You're the oldest sister." Kelvena added in. "We may be Miang's daughters...but let's promise each other never to follow in her footsteps." Kelvena said. Dominia looked at Kelvena.

"Kelvena...for a blind girl, you've always seen the truth better than any of us. Don't you change a bit, ever." Dominia ordered, then looked at the ground. "That's the last order I'll give. From this moment on, the Elements are no..."before Dominia got it out of here mouth, Tolone cut in. "Wrong! We may not be the Gear-riding, world feared, ether wielding super-chicks we were before, but we'll always be the Elements! We'll always be the best." Tolone said. "Yeah!" Seraphita exclaimed.

"Our job may be gone, but the spirit of the Elements will always be around. Not just sisters or partners, but a real team." Seraphita put in. Seraphita hugged her sisters one after another, feeling sadness build up.

"I'll...see you soon." she said. She began to cry again, but turned around before she did. Ramsus came up, calmly strolling to them. "Well done." Ramsus said simply.

"You ladies are really something. As my last order to you all, ever...I order you to never look for me or Dominia again. You've got your own existence's now. Live them." Ramsus said. They all hugged Ramsus, and he held them back. Then, Ramsus and Dominia waved, and started their ship, leaving.

The last 3 walked back to the hideout, feeling the loss of their comrade and sister, but also the happiness that she could choose a life's path.

"It's a new world!" Seraphita said, walking. Tolone smiled at her.

"And all sorts of new boys for you to look at." Tolone replied. "Of course! Survivors from all over the world...meaning some the best looking guys on the planet!" Seraphita exclaimed.

"All you think about is males." Kelvena said.

"Which...isn't so bad." Kelvena added, to Seraphita and Tolone's shock.

They all laughed, and everyone seemed happy. It really was a new world.

The End

That REALLY took a long time to write. PLEASE oh PLEASE put this up, as it was one of the best things I've ever written,

I feel. Thanks for reading all of this.

Janus Calloway