Guardian(Part IV): Revelation

Chapter 5: The Fox

I managed to sidestep most of the fighting between the rebels and the Regulars, following the route to the airport that Wilson mapped out for me. By the time I arrived there, though, the aura of darkness that Tereza gave off was gone. She wasn't in the city, anymore, and there wasn't any fighting at the airport. There was nothing at the airport, other than the wreckage of dozens of transport VTOLs that used to carry passengers around the world. I couldn't tell how long they had been there, but they must have been since the end of the Third Great War. It's mostly abandoned, now, since all of Valedon's military aircraft had been stored at the landing pad of the city's palace. All I could do at the moment was wait for Ser Gabriel, but he wasn't anywhere near the airport. My first thought as to why he was taking so long to get here was that he was held up by the rebels, but he could just fly over them with his lightwings.

"Ser Gabriel?" I asked, through my radio. "I'm at the airport. Where are you?"

"The War Machine in the streets is still active!" Ser Gabriel shouted.

"What?" I gasped. "But we destroyed it."

"It's not destroyed!" Ser Gabriel denied.

"Want me over there?" I offered.

"No, you stay over there," Ser Gabriel declined. "Just in case."

He cut the transmission before I could tell him that Tereza and her Shadow friend were gone. If that War Machine was still operational, though, then he must have had his hands full. I wouldn't bother him anymore.

"Wilson, do you see any hostile contacts coming towards my location?" I questioned.

"One," Wilson answered. "But you may not like who it is that's marked as 'hostile contact'."

"Why?" I wondered. I scanned the area with my APID, but didn't find any heat signatures. There was something coming towards me, though, carrying a radiant aura, unmistakable for that of a member of the Chardanish Special Forces. I went towards its source, hoping I would find another Special Forces member. I did, behind the wreckage of an aircraft, but I wasn't expecting to find who I found. Even so, I couldn't have been more relieved to see who it was.

"Mayfly?" I whispered.

"Fox," said the Mayfly, stepping towards me, and speaking in a raspy, gravely voice similar to mine. "You're awake."

We both stepped closer, then threw our arms around each other. We both squeezed each other as tightly as our arms could allow us, then we kissed. I could only imagine how the Mayfly felt going nearly twenty years without us seeing each other. She couldn't have had it easy, and I knew that if I was in her place, I wouldn't have been more lonely. I wanted to stay in her arms forever, but I couldn't. We had a city to protect.

"I love you, but we'll have to catch up later, Mayfly," I sighed, releasing her. I turned around and drew my sword, but was quickly stopped by Wilson's voice through my radio.

"Fox," he warned. "She's the hostile contact."

Those words cut me like a knife. No one knew the Mayfly like I did. Her loyalty was to Chardan's people, not the ones who would try to take control over them. She would never have sided with Jonathan Chambers. Suddenly, though, I heard the distinctive sound of a sword's ring behind me. I quickly turned around, and couldn't believe what I saw. The Mayfly, who still wore the hardened leather armor of the Chardanish Special Forces, had the etching of a mayfly in her forehead, and the same sigil on the sword she wielded, had drawn her blade on me.

"Mayfly," I growled. "What are you doing?"

"What I was always taught to do," the Mayfly answered. "'To only draw my sword in the service of others'."