Girls' Frontline Fanfiction: Tsar of the Mountain

Hosting a Revenant

Author's Note: This chapter heavily references and takes place after my previous fanfic "Operational Integrity". If you haven't, head on over and give it a read since they're canon to each other and I don't want to rewrite/summarize 27 chapters of fanfic as that would make this book even longer.  :)

https://www.wattpad.com/story/217271660-girls%27-frontline-fanfiction-operational-integrity

***Story Start***

"...Mmm." Zeldri cracked open his eyes to be met with a ceiling that was slowly becoming more and more familiar to him. He was lying in bed back in Helian's apartment. The ceiling fan gingerly spun above him softly caressing his face with a breeze. It was that time of the month to return to the city for physical therapy as well as an excuse to visit Helian.

"...Zzz." A visit she also seemed to enjoy as, looking down, Zeldri saw she was still fast asleep lying naked on top of him as they both lay under the bed's comforter. Luckily, he was considered 'off' today so his alarm was disabled and wouldn't wake her. The rising sun peaked through the closed blinds to softly illuminate the room. Her apartment was on the upper floors of the building so the sounds of traffic only barely reached them to provide a soft background white noise. This was the most relaxed Zeldri had been in years. "...Mmm?" Which was more than he could say for Helian.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"...No," Helian still sounded exhausted, despite just waking up. Her head softly nuzzled against Zeldri's chest as she tried to bury herself in him under the comforter. "I've just started getting up early because of all the extra work that's been piling up." It had been weeks since the failed coup and Kryuger had been arrested. Helian had gone from being second-in-command to leading Griffin while still maintaining her usual duties. The exhaustion was clearly catching up to her.

"Should I have just let you sleep last night?" Zeldri asked partially joking.

"..." Helian's head looked up at him with a pouting face. "I need you to help me unwind, not baby me."

"Still," Zeldri said as he softly stroked Helian's head, "You seem worse than usual. The bags under your eyes were getting worse every time we were on a video call."

"Ah..." Helian leaned into Zeldri's hand as she relaxed. "That's actually from something new that cropped up. Remember that commander I was telling you about?"

"The one who got their hand blown off by a rogue t-doll?" During some of their more personal calls, Helian had vented to Zeldri about a string of events that had been plaguing her. It seemed that a group of t-dolls had gone rogue and were causing trouble. One commander had already been killed and another had their hand blown off. However, said commanders had been either infecting their dolls with a virus to stage their own coup or were selling supplies to terrorists so Zeldri didn't hold any sympathy for them. The one infecting their own dolls also turned out to be Alexander; the same Alexander who Zeldri had humiliated during the secret meeting and who had tormented Annika. Zeldri kept the satisfaction he felt hearing of their death to himself as these situations only made more work for Helian to deal with.

"Yeah... The group of dolls responsible just hit a terrorist base and rescued a bunch of dolls for us."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Zeldri asked as he wrapped his arms around Helian and turned onto his side while still holding her. Each was now on their side staring at the other.

"Had it been anyone else doing it, yes," Helian sighed as she wrapped her arms around Zeldri and pulled him closer. "Their actions are so weird it's hard to keep up with them. They even broke into HQ recently and forced Persica to comply at gunpoint with their schemes; which turned out to be preparation for their raid on the terrorist base. I honestly am at a loss on how to register and report this. Plus, they're still out there so who knows what new incident will crop up... I'm getting tired just thinking about it."