Artificial 7: Genesis Requiem

Chapter 57: Goodbye Father

Narration: A few months after Male Terra escaped with Okita and Ventus, Seth worried himself sick because he could still smell Terra and Ventus,
but he couldn't track them because his sniffer isn't as good as the twins or Female Terra.
After the war with humanity concluded, Chase,
Chase's kids,
and Sora went with Belladonna,
who went back to Georgia to her original mansion.
Female Terra went off on her own journey with Alexander,
holding hands and interlocking them as they walked off into the horizon.

Alexander's squad went back to Mexico with Shimura and Himiko,
while Seth, Zoey, Yuzuhara, Anton, Cynthia,
and Lydia went back to Esparda Manner.
Selena went with the twins,
and the twins would teleport to Seth to help set up the dimensional door between Belladonna's mansion and Esparda Manner,
so that Natalie and Anton could freely come and go as they pleased.
Seth, Zoey, and Yuzuhara had their hands full,
helping Cynthia and Lydia raise their kids since Terra and Ventus are nowhere to be found.

One day,
Selena came over and broke the news that Ventus was a failed test subject in the Super Soldier Project,
and even though he got the buffs of the project,
his life span was cut by three-fourths, meaning he would die young.
Then she also broke that news that since Terra was the finished product of the project.
He'd live no longer than mid-30s,
early 40s.
Cynthia was saddened,
but she didn't cry,
as she cried up all her tears 8 years ago. Same with Lydia.
She mourned Terra's death when he was declared KIA,
but after having a child that is biologically his,
she moved on rather quickly.

Seth just looked sad and accepted the news for what it was,
then he blamed himself for losing two more friends,
then proceeded to have nightmares where Penny, Leon, Ventus, and Terra pointed fingers at him,
yelling he killed them.
Seth knew he wasn't responsible for their deaths,
but he never stopped blaming himself on what-if scenarios.
Meanwhile,
on Terra's end.

Male Terra's POV:

It was nighttime, helicopters buzzing around,
Exorcist drones roaming the woods.
"I'm going to take out the soldiers in the area following the drones. You take this sniper and kill if absolutely necessary." I took the sniper and threw the harness over my shoulder,
then I grabbed Ven,
and I booked it over the hill and stuck to the darkness as much as possible.
The Exorcist had flashlights on their guns,
and they were searching high and low for me and Ven.

The drones were in the hottest pursuit for me,
and it was only a matter of time before I was caught,
so I laid Ven down,
steadied my aim,
took a deep breath,
and exploded a drone with one bullet. Downside,
the Exorcist around us heard the noise, causing Okita to act fast!
I grabbed Ven,
and I moved it between all the trees,
as quick as my body would let me,
which isn't fast as I was still recovering from 9 years of not using my body.

We hid on the bottom end of a hill,
and more Exorcist showed up with their flashlights,
causing me to conceal Ventus and myself with darkness and shadows.
A cloaking spell that would allow the light to shine on us but only see the ground they walk on.
The Exorcist walked right by us,
and I kid you not,
they didn't even notice us.
Running like this,
or,
in my case,
speed walking,
continued on for like 3 hours.
There was just no end to the drones or the Exorcist.
There were times when killing was inevitable,
as it was them or us,
and I chose us.

I sniped several over the course of a few hours and crawled me and Ven to victory,
while Okita assassinated several if not most of the Exorcist.
We ended up at another beach,
and that's when an idea popped up. Okita shows up not too long,
and he starts thinking about our next course of action,
saying we need to get across the sea. "Okita, GTA."
He looked at me confused.
"GTA?"
He replied.
"You take Ven and follow me."
He takes Ventus off my back,
and I run with a lot of stumbling through the sand.