The Wavering Hawk [ENGLISH]

P16. Retrieval

"It's been a while."

Those words meant nothing before. Only words and voice. But now, something felt amiss. Like there should be something beyond words. That was too much of an ask, obviously, because General I knew was always like this.

Perhaps, having surrounded by unstoppably speaking mouth made me think so.

"It is, Generaloberst."

I looked at him in the eye, but not ignored the fact that Latifah was stepping back, standing behind General like an obedient dog.

"Four months missing. You should have gathered some important information." He paused. "But in state you're in, that wasn't the case."

"I'm afraid so, General."

There was nothing on his face. Of course Ares had completed facial figures, but something made his furrowing brows looked empty and his blue eyes looked as cold as marble stone, void from any odd sparks that filled Latifah's eyes.

Did I look like him?

"Your recovery should be at ninety percent rate by now." He furrowed. "If you used that serum, that is."

The warning on his voice startled me. The bag by my side suddenly felt so vivid while everyone else turned greyish and shady.

"Thank you for bringing the serum." General suddenly turned around, faced the woman that for a minute looked like a wallflower. Latifah threw a smile to General Ares, a smile that she didn't even show to Mika. "Thank you for telling me this."

"You should rest." Latifah told him with a face, tone, and expression that similar t Reana when she was with children. "We could prepare a room for you."

"No need." General Ares refused. "I have to depart immediately. You're the one that should rest."

Latifah laughed, or at least I thought she was trying to, because to my ears, she let a sound that similar to dying animal. "You're too cautious."

"I have to." General Ares added. "Tomorrow everyone would know you'd be my wife."

For all of my life, I knew precisely how to react and gave expression toward every occasion, but since this body reduced into something weak, I often got myself tongue-tied without knowing what kind of expression I should make. Today, was one of the worst occasion.

Whether that was because of how Ares's face void of any emotion or how Latifah's face lit up in front of him, I didn't know.

"Now, get some rest." He ordered her. "Let me talk to him."

Latifah nodded and walked out of my room. She sent me a faint smile before closing the door. I didn't wave her a good bye. I couldn't. I was too enthralled by the change on her expression. Her smile vanished and the sparks on her eyes dimmed, showed me nothing but depthless darkness.

"The war is still on our side, Nathaniel." Ares talked, snapped me back to reality. "We've taken this country for two months now. But another resistance called Ein and those bunch of Equatorials kept getting on my nerve. We need you in full power."

The name of Equatorial made my back halted as a response. Generalobersts didn't miss the change.

"I've heard what happened to you and will process the recuperation project on you, along with thirty five of our soldiers that infected by the same thing."

The statement sent question to my head. My mouth opened, but when I knew there were nothing but question that would come out, I sealed my lips again. We didn't supposed to ask question.