Peace in time of War

Monster

*Minor Spoilers for Cobalt's Shadow*

"Are you kidding me!" A young man shouted with his back against a wall in an alley. The man had medium length brown hair with blue eyes and was wearing a plain grey t-shirt with a tactical vest over top and camo cargo pants with light combat boots. In his right ear was an earpiece and in his hands he held an assault rifle that was strapped around his torso, while on his hip was a one-handed sword. He quickly ejected a magazine out of his rifle grabbed a new one from his vest and loaded it. They alley way itself was empty, the only person being the man. He let out a sigh and popped himself off the wall he was leaning on. With a quick glance he looked around and let out another sigh.

"Looks like I'll be saving their hides again." The young man mumbled to himself before trembling and three people appeared out of thin air laying on the asphalt around him. One of them being a young woman with Blonde hair and blue eyes wearing the same outfit as the young man. She was coughing kneeling keeping herself up with her hands on the ground. The young man walked over and crouch down beside the woman looking at her.

"So, what's the situation Brooklyn?" The young man asked earning another cough as the girl turned over and sat on the asphalt. She then looked at him unimpressed.

"Really William, that's your question? We get gassed and your question is 'what's the situation?'" The young woman known as Brooklyn said in a snarky tone to the young man whose name is William. He then let out a sigh and stood up before replying.

"Just trying to have some element of humanity in my life."

William then trembled again, and his stance changed faster than human recognition. He had his sword out by his side covered in blood. Looking at the sword he let out another sigh before taking out a folded cloth out of his vest. William then leaned back against the alleyway wall flicked the cloth unfolding it then started cleaning his sword. The other two people slowly started making their ways into sitting positions. Brooklyn then looked at him with a painful expression and quickly looked away from him.

"How many?" She asked in a soft tone, William sighed again finishing cleaning his blade.

"Enough." Brooklyn then looked to the other two that appeared with her, both breathing heavily. She then stood up and looked back to William.

"So, you'll be leaving again?" Brooklyn asked in the same tone, William sighed as he sheathed his sword and grabbed his rifle that was hanging around his torso.

"After I'm done here, yes." William stated in a flat tone, while the other two people stood up.

"I'm guessing either Rachel or Harmony told you about how this mission went south?" Brooklyn asked leaning her back against a wall opposite of William. William then tapped his earpiece and smirked.

"Harmony did, you know he can't let anything bad happen to you." He said before looking to the other two people.

"What's your specializations?" William asked directed at the two of them, a guy wearing a heavier variant of William's outfit while the other was a girl wearing a lighter variant.

"Travis, Support." Said the guy with the heavier variant first, with the girl speaking right after.

"Haylee, Tracker." William then let out a thoughtful hum then turned back to Brooklyn.

"Objective was to scout out the enemy in this location, right?" William asked casually leaning back against the wall with his one foot on the wall. Brooklyn gave a sheepish nod before replying.

"That was the plan, when they noticed us they thought that Cobalt was launching a full-on assault on them." She explained causing William to sigh again.

"Dusselbaden, what are we going to do with you." William said to himself shifting his foot back onto the ground. William pursed his lips before speaking again with a finger on his earpiece.

"Harmony, contact Prince Wilhelm, tell him it's time for the monsters to roam again." Brooklyn then gave him a questioning glance.

"Since when have you been in contact with Prince Wilhelm?" Brooklyn asked curiously, causing William to chuckle.

"Technically longer than he's been alive here, but since he was about six-teen." William stated with a grin causing Brooklyn to give William a puzzled look. William noticed it and grinned even more.

"We haven't seen it this time, but last time there was a group of us that were called the Five Monsters. Not creative I know, but we didn't give ourselves the name." William said with a tone of reminiscence, causing Brooklyn to smile.

"You know how Wolf, Kestrel, Phillip, and Wilhelm are all the best of our generation? Well, you know how last time I was in the same tier as them, we might've pulled a couple of stunts off that shouldn't have been possible." William said finishing off with a full-on smile before it fell right of with a sigh as William popped himself off the wall. Brooklyn did the same with a sad expression falling over her face. William then tilted his head listening to his ear piece before grinning again.

"Well, I'll see you again sometime Brooklyn." William said before vanishing, causing Brooklyn to sigh and the girl then looked to her.

"So, he's the one that stole your heart?" Haylee asked, and Brooklyn looked to her.

"You could say that, unfortunately his is already claimed." Brooklyn replied, and Haylee looked thoughtfully.

"William Guard is his name, right? Whose whole existence is essentially classified but not at all?"

"Yes, that's his name. The two of us grew up together, it was almost expected that we would end up together. Then suddenly he goes and marries this famous musician and decides that he's abandoning his families tradition." Brooklyn said in a cross between reminiscence and disgust earning a confused look from Haylee.

"How did he manage that? Isn't tradition one of the most important things in Cobalt?" She asked Brooklyn who gave a saddened expression again.

"You know how he was talking about 'last time'?" Brooklyn asked, and Haylee nodded.

"Yeah, I was confused about what he was talking about there." Haylee answered prompting an answer from Brooklyn.

"William's an Ancient, this is his third life. He hasn't told me much about his second life but from what I gather it was the same time as we are now. Main difference between the two times is what William is deciding to do. If last time he followed his family's tradition it would explain why he was able to abandon it so quickly. But, don't let that make you think that he doesn't have a sense of duty. He'll do anything for Cobalt, the question right now is what he is planning." Brooklyn explained, while Haylee looked at her shocked. Brooklyn then shook her head and made a motion with her hand to the other two.

"Objective's complete, location's clear of enemies." Brooklyn said before walking out of the alleyway with Haylee and Travis following her.