DDLC: Revelance

Chapter Twenty-three

"Attention!", shouted the drill instructor, putting the Army soldiers at that command. As they stood in disciplined form and fashion, the coffins in which their comrades were encased were marched up to the front of the parade, before being set down and the troops in front were allowed to pay their respects, resting their hands on the lids, saluting them, and then taking their leave. Me and the rest of the squad simply stood by, waiting for the moment when the announcer called our names.

"It's heartbreaking, yes?", Yuri reflected. "Seeing their fallen allies be mourned and honored in this time of victory?"

"Just like how the Sentinels do.", I replied.

"And still, it's got a lot more partying than right here.", Caide butted in.

"Who asked you to come in, dude?", I annoyedly snarked at him.

"Oh, come on. I can't speak without you telling me to shut up."

"Shh!", Wix silenced us. "They're gonna call our names."

"Get ready.", I commented as we stood still in preparation.

"And now, for the men and women of the hour, the extraordinary heroes from beyond, hailing from the Sentinellian Empire..! Please welcome, Master Baron Atimus, Admiral Hauro, and all of Orion Squad!", the announcer hailed us all around the parade, as the crowd exploded into a loud drumming of clapping and applauding, with several people whistling and whooping all around us. We marched up honorably to the front of the stage, while U.S soldiers in uniform folded their arms up to salute us as we progressed to the stairway that led next to the podium.

One by one, we marched up to the stage, as Sayori waved happily towards the crowd, while the rest of us simply came up in line. The announcer, a military representative dressed in a formal, bland uniform with several ribbons, was more than ecstatic to have us on display to the rest of the crowd. Yuri interlocked her hands behind back in a ceremonial fashion, while Natsuki just crossed her arms looking down at the crowd.

Meanwhile, I stood and panned my head around, looking at the crowd in wonder and awe. Before, I never thought I'd get this far. From the beginning, I was just a meek high school student that failed middle school for a while and who was way behind all the other students. I was nothing. I was a lost cause. But when that truck hit me, everything changed. It freed me from all that. All those troubles that stuck with me since I turned 18. But the ultimate price was my humanity and the precious treasures that came with it: The memories. A normal life. The old feeling of what it was like to be human.

Yuri turned her head towards me, smiling, and held my gloved hand with her left.

"So!", called the announcer, holding the microphone towards Ordenate. "Admiral. What do you have to say in all this? Is this anything like your home?"

Ordenate sighed confidently. He had been through stuff like this many times.

"Definitely. I would recommend our home, Prosparmin, if you want something more exotic. We may not have an official salute, but we always have a saying that holds true to us Imperials for until time's death.", he echoed out, his serious, cold voice having a faint, but somewhat noticeable, sense of spirit.

He quickly inhaled a gasp of air, before mimicking the soldiers' salute.

"For Glory! Bask in the Honor! Fare unto Death!", he chanted loud and proud, his voice reaching to the ends of the planet.

The crowd exploded once more in applause, with Ordenate simply giving a mildly amused smile as he stared out at the crowd.

"Now, how about you, Master Baron?", the announcer turned to us, his smile holding true. Just then, he noticed me and Yuri's hands held together, reacting with a wicked pair of eyes. "And you? What's your name, sweetheart?"

The microphone was held up to her mouth. Now, unlike before, where she would just blush up and turn away from it, she stood high and proud, before finally speaking up with the fury of a thousand stars.

"Private Solaria. Orion Squad.", she announced, encouraging a massive burst of clapping from the crowd.

"Heh.", I chuckled briefly. "It's a long story."

"Well, let's speak up about you, Baron! Is it royalty, a military rank, or something else?"

"First two. But, I'd say it's more the second. And hey! Look at what I can do!"

"And me!", Yuri joined.

Our hands glowed with the fury and energy of the Aether, as they rose up for everyone to see, before the energy began to mix, cross and stream together to form two massive light figures in the sky. The crowd was silent. Awe and wonder filled the air. A fair trade.

The purple figure in the sky was a human being who stood in front of the blue figure - a Sentinel. They had their hands locked in a firm, unbreakable handshake, inspiring astonishment and amazement into the crowd. The rest of the squad just stood honorably as the light show went on to show Prosparmin, the Yallosec system, and the Sentinellian Empire as a whole.

While all of this was ongoing, Major Tanner was among the row of soldiers who saluted us as we marched up to the stage, and he was especially astonished when me and Yuri started our performance of celestial Aether energy. When we revealed our powers to everyone here, I felt a sense of euphoria when I released the neon energy from my hand. I felt a pleasing, almost surreal sense of bliss with each movement of the figures in the sky. Yuri also appeared to be going through this too.

The finale of the show was the inclusion of the Milky Way. The dot that happened to be in the Orion Arm was Yallosec, and it was zoomed in to show four planets orbiting the huge star Lave, bigger than Sol's Sun. The blue planet was Prosparmin. The Empire's ships leaving it in massive fleets, before being blown up by cannon fire, were meant to show how the Sentinels achieved space travel, but were trampled back when the Guardians attacked. After the Yallosec segment, we moved onto Sol and all its eight planets. Then, we showed both the two systems together and how far they were. We were close neighbors, by the Sentinels' standards.

Exhaustion overtook us both, and we sucked the Aether back into our bodies, mentally panting from all the movements and formations during the performance. I opened my eyes. The crowd was all in shock and amazement, before consequently exploding loudly in applause. The glory was too great just for the both of us. The fact that I literally had the blood of the universe flowing through me was already enough, but this? I just spent a few days on this planet and I'm already famous, Yuri and Orion Squad as well.

But now, there was no turning back. This was my life at its peak. As cameras clicked and flashed at us, I couldn't do anything but let my eyes wander in the glory of the fame, the excitement, and the crowd itself.

It was almost like a dream. A leaf, as it flew by, faded away in the distance. But not in the fog. It was as if it had chipped itself away in the air.