ARES:Gods of War

Memories Broken

The waiting period had to be the hardest. Alyosha sat at his desk, tapping his foot and rubbing the leg he'd nearly broken in that previous encounter with the Raptures, murmuring something to himself about needing his own protective system kind of like the Chief's. Goddessium armor was relegated to Nikkes for an important reason, but maybe they could build something like an exoskeleton for humans to be able to wield in battle, sort of like Chief's armor. He sighed deeply, then ran his hands through his hair due to concern.

Anis had noticed this, rather obviously, simply tapping her foot as she was sat down with her arms crossed below her chest. Lest she gently squeeze the air out of her own biomechanical lungs. Beside her, Neon fiddled with her shotgun shells, looking them over and peering into each to ensure that the powder was loaded properly or whatever. The grenadier looked to the Commander and said, "Don't worry... If I know Rapi, she'll..." but her words waned. She didn't want to lose Rapi. Her memories or anything. They'd been best friends since forever.

Neon herself did not say much, simply making sure her firepower would be in tip-top shape for when they needed to head out again. She had not known Rapi for that long, sadly, but from what little she could tell, she was both a connoisseur in the finer arts of armaments and a very good person. One she'd hate to see lost to a Memory Wipe. But one sadly never tried to go against the Central Government without major support. Something a simple Nikke squad lacked beyond their own weapons.

And as much as Neon would've liked to be a bit brash and try to break Rapi out, she'd have probably wound up dismantled, or worse, another victim of the Mind Wipe. She sighed and set aside her weapon, before staring at the shells she'd lined up on the floor from over her glasses. She hummed and started, "I'm sorry... I should have told Ingrid ahead of time... Maybe we could've..."

"It's not your fault, Neon," Sighed Alyosha, "Nobody's but mine for accepting Syuen's mission without even more of a fight..."

"It's not your fault either, Commander," Anis shot back, standing to her feet and walking to him, "Syuen. She used us and then threw us under the bus immediately after we tried doing her bidding. Little rat really ain't worth the effort, so don't blame yourself, okay? We'll... Make new memories with Rapi. She's still gonna be her at the core," And she set a hand on his shoulder. He sighed, the tension in his body loosening for a moment. He nodded and smiled.

"Thanks, Anis."

"Any time," She smiled and patted him on the back, then the entire group paused as the door to the Commander's room slid open. They paused as they saw the Chief walking in, with a certain figure clad in black and red very close behind. All of them stood to their feet and turned toward Rapi, expectant, while the Chief took a step to the side alongside Delta, who'd also tagged in to help escort her.

Rapi and Alyosha's gazes met and, for a brief moment, the Commander saw something off. Rapi's lips curled into a faint smile as she saluted and said, "Commander... Everyone..."

"Rapi...?" Neon paused, "Y-You..."

"Remember? Yes," She chuckled and crossed her arms, "A rather funny story, that one."

Anis beamed at that, charging and nearly tackling her bestie in a hearty hug. Rapi snorted and said, "Good to see you, too, Anis..." as she patted her on the back. Had they missed her that much, she thought. Had she worried them enough about the Mind Wipe that they'd all be this doom and gloom about her coming back without her thoughts? It made her happy.

Anis backed up, hands on her friend's shoulders. The Commander, however, stole her words from her mouth as he approached and asked, "How...?" with a smile.

Rapi looked over to the Chief and said, "The Chief has quite a few surprises up his gauntlets. One of them was key in making sure neither I, nor Mihara got our minds wiped... Though we'll certainly make sure the Central Government and especially Syuen never find out..." which caused the entire room to pause. All of them, Rapi included, looked to the Chief, who paused.