• It was not every night that Gene Greyward would awaken to an alarm. The nights that it did happen though, he would be fully alert and ready to tackle anything that came his way. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers - he'd wipe them out without worry. A break out of the base - he'd lock and secure everything back.

    He was not prepared for tonight as he strolled half dressed through the flashing red corridors, a cigarette lit in his mouth already. There would be a lone figure standing in front of a computer console - the only noticeable things in the hallway. "Anathema." The man would greet simply, coming to a full stop before the humanoid.

    "Good evening, Mister Greyward." The coral-haired android would reply, her fingers typing away fast at a console. "I assume you have realized we are under an emergency lock down."

    "Yes Ana, I have noticed." Gene pointed to his body, where he only wore his sleep pants. "What's the situation? Xerxes isn't responding to me."

    Anathema would continue to be typing frantically at the console, her eyes locked on the screen. "That would be because Xerxes has been hacked."

    [Hacked?!] Gene would move in next to the android, looking over the screen. "How is that even possible, Anathema?!" He'd ask in dire frustration, watching her work. "Xerxes is a complicated AI and it would take knowledge only I have to get past the first few walls, then there's some I made too complex for even me, and god, what's going on?!"

    "It's Miss Sakura." Anathema would respond, bringing a free hand to the side of her head to flip open a panel and pull out USB cables, plugging them into the system. "Xerxes is unaffected, we're just temporarily locked out." She would explain shortly after, erasing the fears of an infection spreading to the other AI.

    Gene bit the cigarette, smoke inhaled sharply into his nostrils. "She's interfered with Xerxes programming - quite complex, but what do you expect from a genius such as herself?" The man murmured to himself under his breath, pulling the cigarette from his lips. "I need Sakura's coordinates now."

    Anathema motioned her head to the door next to them, "Training simulation room number three. She's locked access to it, has locked us out of Xerxes, and oh dear." The android would stop responding, pushing more of her resources into the job she was doing.

    "Don't tell me you're going to crash at a time like this." Gene said with a slight tinge of annoyance, moving his arms around her to access the console himself. Quickly scanning his eyes over the data on the screen, he'd frown. "Why... why is she accessing such a thing?"

    "To recover information." Anathema responded quietly, still devoting most of her power to the system before her.

    "... what information could she possibly gain from this day?" Gene straightened up, before the date caught his attention. "Oh s**t..."

    "This is the accounted day and time of her death several hundred years ago." The android would do what she did best - state the obvious.

    "How... how could she even find anything out from this?" Gene pulled the cigarette away from his lips in contemplation, his mind quickly working to find a way into the system. "There is no recorded recollection of the day... no one even knows who actually killed her..."

    Anathema would tap a finger against the screen as a reply to the man's questions, still devoted to her work. Intrigued, the man glanced down at the monitor. "She... made a simulation of his memories? This ought to be good."

    The hissing sound of a door opening a few yards away would snatch his attention away rather quickly, as his eyes darted towards it. "Temporary access granted, Mister Greyward." Anathema would announce to him. "I will remain focused on freeing Xerxes and bringing the base back to normality."

    Gene Greyward's lips curled into a devious smirk, recollecting why he liked Anathema's personality so much. Granting him access to the information he secretly wanted without being ordered to - such was the way of her design. Curiosity tugged at his mind as he put out the cigarette, tossing it off to the side as he walked. Who was it that managed to deliver the final blow to the famed and all powerful leader three hundred years ago? Considering her strength and genius mind, there was only one possible answer.

    One of Sakura Polarstar's greatest friends had to have killed her.

    An answer he had sought after for the couple of years of being alive, as the woman remained resting in his quarters. They had come across their allies several times already, but who to trust and who to not? There would be a more prominent motive in his mind - one set on revenge. The death of the woman previously was what brought the world to it's current condition. There were several more questions that needed answers. Why did she not remember her death? How was she able to come back to life? What were her final words?

    All things he craved to know as the doors slammed tightly behind him. The simulation program had already been running, as his eyes darted about, taking in the setting. The old DNDFF base with sirens going off. "Was the base under this madness at the time..?" He'd question to himself as simulated soldiers rushed past him, ignoring him completely. "What?"

    This startled him for the moment, as Gene remained stunned in place. His mind raced with the possibilities, finally settling with the one that seemed appropriate. It wasn't so much a simulation as it was a movie. "Sakura Polarstar wants to view her own death... not distract from it with what if's.." He calmly explained to himself, forcing himself to push forward.

    The cries of the soldiers were all the same - the headquarters were being attacked by some outside force and thus, everyone was to be sent to the front lines to defend. Typical, an intrusion to the base to kill the leader. It was simple warfare - you kill the leader, you disrupt the enemy forces into a surrender. "No..." Gene reminded himself. No one existed at the time that could defeat Sakura in a battle. It had to be a betrayal, a stab from someone in close embrace. "A clever distraction."

    A man would rush past him, the blurred familiarity screaming that the new ancient must die. Gene paused to recall the politics of the federation so many years ago. There were five ancients; the four minor that supported and powered the fifth. The most powerful ancient would have been his contractor, the one whom had been murdered three hundred years ago. Then there would have been her husband, second in command, who had been out of the area for personal business. The third was her brother, who was personally close to the two and frighteningly loyal to their causes. The fourth would have been the man who ran past them, his devotion to the leader unwavering. He was probably the most trusted friend of her's...

    The fifth, perhaps? He was the newbie to the gang and a delightfully evil man, despite his ironic name. Gene shifted his weight as he started to jog along after the computer data that was his friend. Gene recalled the many late night conversations with the DNDFF leader, her ever growing concerns over the man's intentions. It started to dawn on him as he stopped, his thoughts freezing him in fear.

    "Eric Gospel wishes to unite the two worlds together and will stop at nothing until it is done." Sakura's determined voice remained cool as ever in his mind as he forced himself to remember. "Even if it means eliminating me and escalating to full power himself."

    "He can't do that." Gene would say in an aloof voice. He had always been apathetic to the politics, as he waved his cigarette around. "There are three others before him in terms of power."

    The memory of Sakura shaking her head as her gaze adverted his own was plain as day in his mind. It all started to make sense. "He is more powerful than the four of us combined..." Her admittance was her defeat, as a small sigh passed through her lips. "He has the power of manipulation... of conspiracy.. He will simply just turn us all against one another. Brother slaying brother, friend murdering friend, lover destroying lover..."

    "WAIT!" Gene cried out as he took off in a frantic sprint. On instinct, he would continue to dodge the people in the hallways despite them being nothing but ghost images. He would look around, trying to catch a glimpse of the path the man had taken. "Damn it..." He'd scold himself for letting his thoughts distract him, a first for the soldier. Instead of trying to locate him, he'd move back towards Sakura's quarters.

    "Just know above all else, I forgive you." He heard the weak voice of Sakura and despite the content of the words, it remained calm and loving.

    "I don't want your forgiveness!" The fourth ancient's voice cried out and the next thing Gene heard was the sound of a sword breaking through flesh and bones. Gene's eyes widened as he forced himself to peer into the room.

    Sakura's body would be crumpled against the ground, surrounded in a thick pool of blood already. Her assailant would be standing over her, breathing hard. "I... I won't let you hurt her, Eric Gospel..." He'd say, his eyes glazed over.

    Gene would stumble back in confusion, dazed now. "The person who killed her is..."

    "Air Crystaline." Came the calm voice that always brought him back to his senses. He felt her soft hand graze his back gently, as he forced himself to straighten up.

    "Your best friend... he's a traitor... we must punish him..." Gene murmured, feeling sick to his stomach.

    The frail fingers tightened on his body as Sakura shook her head. "No, we mustn't. He's lived for three hundred years knowing what he did and the spell that had been placed on him. Judging from the scene before me, I can easily come to the assumption he thought I was Eric... Hence why he slayed me."

    "You... you are awfully calm for just witnessing your own death." Gene forced out, the shock value still weighing heavily on his mind.

    "With the death comes the rebirth." Sakura chuckled, as she kissed the back of his shoulder. "That was just a shell of the woman I was... look at how pale the body is, how weak it looks. I had prepared for my death days before this occurred." Sakura took a step back. "Xerxes, initiate command 72."

    "Command 72 initiated. File deleted." The computer would come back to life, the male voice filling the room.

    The simulation would glitter and fade around them, leaving the pair in a large vacant room, the memory now embedded in their minds.