'The silent walls cried, the monitors died, and though stressed I survived.' These were the words Dietrich told himself as he turned off the monitor and bit the Chocolate bar lying on the dirty desk.

He worked for nearly 24 hours as of late. '1525hrs' the wristwatch reported.

"Huh, 25 hours of work." He corrected himself.

'25 hours of fixes and deliberate sabotage. They will be in for a nice surprise.' He thought to himself as he took another bite at the chocolate and another sip at the coffee.

He closed his eyes for a moment, before reminding himself of the boring dirt walls and the uncomfortable rock for a chair he had for a seat. He could only swear as his back started to ache and his body weakens. He needed some rest, he expended too much energy and strength as of late. He needs time.

He started to clear the desk of cups of coffee, dark and milk chocolate, and a full liter of cola when a mesmerizing figure arrived.

She was lean, had brown straight hair reaching her shoulders, heterochromatic green and brown eyes, a good bust, hourglass figure, sexy legs, and a pretty face.

" Emilia? What are you doing here?" He asked the young broad, trying to focus his eyes on this magnificent sight.

She walked ever closer as he focused his eyes, trying to make sense of this occasion. Asking himself how and why; he left her in tears two years ago, for the sake of her safety and now she's here smiling.

Though tired, drained, and sleepy, he doubted this and tried to make some sense of this situation. He asked himself how she got in, why did she get in and who let her in this dark gloomy subterranean realm.

She walked closer and closer, reaching an arm's length by the time she stopped. Something odd is in place though, Dietrich noted. The skin tone was incorrect in a few places, her bust was a bit asymmetrical than usual and her gaze was a tad bit odd. He never saw her like this before. But she wore the last dress he was with her when they officially broke up.

She looked perfect as always with that bright pink-ish red dress: sleeveless, simple design, V-collar, and reaching only a few centimeters from the ankles. Though simple and very questionable in terms of cost, she looked hot and pretty as always.

" We don't have much time, I didn't even tell my father. Hehe." She said softly, gently, and seductively as she actively reached for his crotch.

He slapped her hand and said: " How would I know the truth? For once is it really you? Why did you come here and how? It's too dangerous for a dame like you to go waltzing around men of rougher stature....."

Just as he finished, she gave him a french kiss. Passionately her tongue sought his, her breathing and control finesse as he sought some semblance of control in his own body but nevertheless, he couldn't budge no more.

She felt like her, tasted like her, and smelled like her. That scent of perfume so perfectly feminine, so delicate, so addictive, and heartwarming like the first time they met and kissed. She kissed like her and did things like her but amongst the ruckus, Dietrich felt something wrong. He started to get a momentary occurrence of tunnel vision, followed by trouble focusing his eyesight and acute sensory in terms of dermal and those associated with pleasure.

" Shhh! It's not safe here, let's go to my room." He said as he grabbed her arm and led her to his quarters.

The place was neat, clearly the best spot in the entire place so far. How Dietrich managed to sneak some wallpaper into the tunnels is the biggest mystery, still, they lightened the room. So far the bed was the benchmark of his, the cleanest in this hellish network.

He grabbed her hair and pulled her to his left before mounting himself on her on the bed. He knew something was off for never had he felt something as relaxing as kissing Emilia before. Emilia comforted him on a daily basis ever since they have met. Ever since she found out about his heart problems she comforted him with body and words, they even slept together in their four-year tenure. But no matter how hard he struggled he felt himself trying to get closer to this dame. His body loosened, his heartbeat fastened and his brain too drained to think of morality and being humane.

He's lost it, he knew it. His body no longer there, though he feels it. He felt drunk, senseless yet elated and all the semblance of a 22-year-old Dietrich Frederik Kempf was no more. What was left was the husk of a man who wanted at least a hug of the girl he loved the most.

He rolled out of her way and started to shed some tears as his heart felt kinda heavier. She grabbed his hand and gently caressed her face on them. Such gentle, fine and smooth skin. He stopped sobbing as he witnessed her warm-hearted smile.

Slowly but steadily she reached for his crotch and loosened his zipper. Like a snake, she slithered her way to his body and forced herself on him.

He felt his senses start to overload, his mind scanning the memories; memories of old, the lost, and the few. The emotions of happiness, sadness, and oh the blissful ignorance of the current situation. Sad to say Dietrich played the part.

Amid her aggressive lovemaking and his drug-fueled euphoria, he felt his world flicker, its existence a mere blank space, and its validity breaking.

His tired body did yield but his mind did not cede. His subconscious fought to control his body, but his animal instinct made a far better shield wall. Try as it might his animal side capitalized a greater flaw; Dietrich was plagued by fatigue.

For nearly an hour he capitulated to her blind dominion as she pounced and bounced in unrestricted pleasure. Riding him like a cowgirl in a rodeo. This barely bothered him, Emilia used to do it though so to him it was her no doubt.

He reached the zenith of pleasures and was laid back in the midst of her wild ride. Still mounted she rested her head on his chest and took an arm before reaching her bosom, retrieving another condom and a blindfold.

" Ready for another round?" She said as he replied silently with a funny smile.

" Crazy boy!" She said as she placed the blindfold and proceed to ram herself ever so wildly like dogs in heat.

***

1913hrs

A resonating tune echoed throughout the entire tunnel network, the glass bottles rumbled as the heat stood still.

" Borya Blyat!" Dietrich cursed as he dealt with his vision; tunneling and distorted. He noticed a delicate figure to his right and focused his sight on her.

"Hayako!!!" He screamed with the last gust from his lungs as it withered. His heartbeat fastened his mind convulsing, his soul suffocating in disbelief.

What in the blazes was she doing! That was exactly his first thought. And she was hugging him sleeping with a smile. He was no siscon, but he never imagined that she had a sort of brother complex or maybe he misunderstood! Maybe those two were to blame. They were the worst sort of role figures, to begin with!

The idea of Those degenerates influencing his sister is too much for him, but what can he expect! She was following them since he was fourteen. Maybe that was the case! And that made him want to sabotage some more!

He stood and looked at her, thousands of years worth of genetic engineering and selection. In a way, he was lucky that their parents were not only a match both as partners but also in genetics. They not only complemented but also improved themselves through their union. He might not be the best of the batch but he is an example of that even from the outside.

Looking at her, he wondered why she always rejected every proposal that even people he would vouch for. Too many boys had lost heart because she rejected them, and not just in a subtle manner. A few of them even told them about it, and they were not only heartbroken, but they were also beyond upset as she literally shamed them to stop doing it.

He looked once more before kissing her on the forehead, but it made his stomach churn.

****

2200hrs

He woke up from the sound of distant machinery, a work of little more than pitiful misery as the gears he knew would soon pop to the sound a mere drop.

His watch told him he was three hours behind schedule, but in the next four hours, his tardiness might prove better. He gathered his effects; Rope, gauntlets, knives, A 300-year-old recreated silenced Makarov pistol, and of course his grappling hook.

He bit a ration bar made of nuts, peanut butter, and bread crumbs. A recipe he patented himself. He finished his meal and placed the rest of the bars in a rucksack and proceeded out of the room. He strolled the tunnels towards the big boulder he stood at a day ago and rolled the big rock in a flick of a wrist. Clever design as it hid something far more sinister. Little did he know that a pair of eyes spied his little escapade. Inside he greeted the emptiness of a world without light before taking a deep breath and pulled the lever. The lights came to life as electricity surged the wires. In the midst of the sparks were thousands of Acquisitors and various other Avtomats lined up and awaiting deployment.

He stood for a moment, listening to the last spark before the silence once more sets in. He took a deep breath as his mind cleared and thought about an old poem he wrote:

' At last, I have met my predicament.

At last, I have sought attainment.

Yet little by little I saw disappointment

For I have attained an abominable abhorrence

And lo! The heavens have spoken

Revealing fate little than a token

That I, remembered will be for the death I have invested

Never for the dream I intended

Lo! For history, itself will remember me as death incarnate

Eater of dreams and bringer of ailments

God forgive me this wretched night

That this hopeless wretch is painless in his flight.'

Tears streamed from his eyes as his mind flashed back a few years back when he composed that piece. With all the emotions, he spread, with all his vigor he spread the text. But with so little favor, garner any appreciation it never did. It's quite prophetic of him to make a poem that just fits through. And even to him, it's quite shocking that he decided to stop making some more unless needed. If every poem he wrote ends as a self-fulfilling prophecy, he might just avoid his fate. But it might be his fault back then for being too suicidal, or maybe just a coincidence that he can't disprove yet.

He recovered from his self-induced trance and to a deep breath. He regained his posture and proceeded to walk the aisle of decked Avtomats till he reached a wall of dirt so wet it could've been mistaken for an anomaly in here.

He knocked on the wettest portion of the wall four times and waited for a sign. The wall shook and revealed a hole the size of a fist. He dropped the rucksack and reaching his pockets he retrieved a folded piece of paper and chugged it inside the hole where a hand-pulled it.

He looked around trying to secure his surroundings. He reached for his glasses and searched for heat signatures in the area but none were found. He got out of that large cavern, and out of the tunnel network. A larger door opened near the hole and closed just as fast as it opened with it, the sack with the bars.

The paper reads:

"I-Evac in 0400hrs, third tunnel towards Koenigs street. All units are to deploy immediately for recuperation. End."

***

Battenburg estate, Northern Melder city, Ostland

2400hrs

He smiled as he trekked the tunnels heading north, though with a trickle of disdain for the smell of sewage in the tunnels. His mission now is just to report. As a series of plans are to execute.

Hundreds of nobles wishing for a better home and for their lower brethren a better life will lose their lives as they don the dark suit. He knew it was coming, he made sure it was coming. Though the prospect of losing someone he loved was worrying, he can at least spare a few this morning.

He got out of the tunnels and into a cellar. Discarding his coat and previous effects, he donned one he stashed under the steps.

Like a cat, he stalked the shadows like a shinobi in the night. The place was silent with a few guards, they knew he was here but acted like he wasn't.

On the third floor, he hid in a corner with barely any light. Bypassing a patrol in his sight. The place was beautiful with wallpaper and paint. No matter how dark its beauty remains.

He hid for nearly a minute when a hand stretched out with a lighted cigarette. He took it from the guard and smoked. His uniform might be dark and nearly undetectable, but this man saw him. One word swept his mind: Onyx.

" Looking good Team Leader."

" Looking good Onyx, any baskets?" He asked the guard.

" Up my arse, only berries."

" What berries? How's the paper?"

" No baskets so far, but the paper is in the pocket."

'So far so good. No orders, the plan is as it is and only a single update.' He thought as he smoked.

" What's the berry?"

" You have to wait till thirty before entering, and wait here for three minutes before moving. I have to deal with a patrol."

" What's with the patrol?"

" Private cons, not part of the op."

' Private contractors, Why?' He thought miserably, trying to remember the army of Intelligence units guarding the place.'

" So much for the berry, luck hates me as always." He said in a pathetic tone before sighing.

" I thought I was unlucky!" Onyx whispered as he walked towards the patrol.

***

Emelia's Bedroom

0026hrs

" Darling please! Just look at me. I'm sorry okay, I just get carried away sometimes." She said as she hugged him.

" I don't know, sometimes when I look at you I see someone else. I wanna make it up to you, I promise." She added.

" You knew I'm not that kind of a guy. I just wanna make you happy. That's all there is for me I can't do much until we've tied the knot" He spoke with a tint of guilt in his voice.

" What's up with you Yerik? Why can't you be like everybody else? Why can't you be normal?" She asked with her arms comforting him.

He didn't answer, however in his mind he spoke to himself: 'When I was younger, a girl fell in love with me. She loved me to the point of doing everything to get me and gain my attention.

I always wanted a best friend and I wanted to keep her that way. But she wanted more.

One day we met in a secluded area at the school. Of all the places I frequently asked why but found no answer.

I went and saw nothing before something plastic jumped on my head and drilled a hole on the side.

I collapsed before she came and picked me up and she placed me in a chair. I woke up, filled with something I cannot control. She must've thought it could make me fall in love, but instead it did more harm than good.

Before I could do anything I acted strangely for weeks, sometimes no different than a dog to her, doing her every wish. I was affectionate, I was sweet but I had no control.

It boiled down a while later when out of nowhere I had nearly raped her. I remembered stripping her and punching her thrice in the abdomen and once in the face for resisting.

But I managed to break free and pulled it out before I could do more. My manhood was out of my trousers as I struggled in pain, rolling on the ground. Luckily I didn't scream, and neither did she.

I carried her to the clinic to be treated. But she asked me not to. She told me everything and the price but didn't expect it to be like that.

Ever since that day, I have felt guilty, worthless, and afraid. I could never even dare look at her. To me, it was my fault that she had to bear those punches and the pain. She always tried to cheer me up but I never could for I felt responsible.

If only I can tell her all of that, of my beloved Della, but that is something I can't.'

Of all the things he could do he decided, that he can only leave her hanging and she is getting more and more worried.

Dietrich sneaked into the room and hid in the curtains. The darkness of twilight aiding his entrance.

" I sure do miss those embraces, those times where warmth touches cold metal. And it thaws it all." He said announcing his arrival.

" Warmth thaws ice, never metal." Replied the other man.

He stood out and the two men embraced. Like old friends separated by time and space.

" Doing better I see Blue leader." He said with a smile before looking around and finding something weird. " Where's B? He's not going late isn't he?"

" You were told to wait till thirty remember?"

" Evac's on four! We can't wait!" He said with urgency.

" What's going on here? And Dietrich you're not welcome here!" Emelia said fiercely, confused at their conduct and his intrusion.

" Oh, he is welcome alright!" Zacharius von Battenburg her father or B stood behind them as if he materialized out of nowhere.

" We have so much to discuss Team leader or should I say, Lord Commander." He added as he took a bow and received one in return.

" Yerik, what is going on?" She asked her lover.

" I believe, your father can answer that question better Emelia." The man answered.

***

Her father told her everything. The deployment, The break-up, The false engagement party, the engineered date planned by Dietrich himself, and Yerik's mission. He excused her before continuing to brief the two on the situation.

She approached the balcony and sat on the railing with a firm grip as she pondered on her life. The revelations hurt her more than she could bear for she fell in love with Yerik the day they met, but found out he never loved her. He was a pain worse than Dietrich, but she loved him.

Dietrich helped her just as she helped him, but with Yerik she never did though she shouldered on. The pain of living a lie broke her heart, worse than the break-up. She for a lack of a better word did not deserve the very thing she hated the most: To live a lie.

As the daughter of a tycoon, her hand would never be of her choosing. She despised that idea that to avoid all attempts, she decided to engage a friend that she never even considered being able to love, but she just did. And now, knowing that the same person she once cared for only brought unto her what she hated the most.

Her head wasn't in the right place. Of all the things in the world that could happen it had to be this! Take away her belongings and she wouldn't dare shed a tear but take away her choices and she flat out blows up.

Her head was filled with volatile thoughts, that living in the presence of a lie wasn't worth it anymore and jumping to her death would be better. She knew she wasn't thinking straight, but years of repressed fears and the latest bombshell convinced her she should.

Her world turned gray in the minute of choice, as she pushed herself slowly till the air felt her hair.

Two dark hands grabbed her by the belly and suspended her in mid-air. Grey darkened as she felt herself pulled back towards the railing and to the floor of the balcony eventually landing on someone.

She felt his breath caress her hair as she regained consciousness. She struggled while screaming to be let go, and managed to do so at the time. She tried to jump again but failed as he caught her and pulled her closer to him.

" Let me go! Let me go! I don't wanna live like this anymore!" She demanded, screaming.

" Think straight for once! You have no idea what he went through just to get a good look at you!! " Her father barked.

She stopped squirming and took a good look at him. Noting his more rugged appearance and almost restless eyes.

" Is that even true?"

" I did not risk my neck through hell and earth just to witness you fall to your death." He replied solemnly embracing her tightly as they sat on the floor.

" I missed you so much! You have no idea how precious this time is for me! No matter how short." He said nearly bursting into tears.

" Is that true father?"

" More than true, he loves you Emelia. More than anything in the world." Yerik instead replied in his defense.

" I shouldn't have said those words, but I had no other choice. If they knew we were together, they would've held you hostage like the rest. Many have died Emelia, I couldn't bear the thought of you as one of them."

Emotions raced, as their hearts beat. A lover's embrace as their lost hearts meet.

They both cried in their embrace as the two looked on feeling worthless in their plight.

" Hey Dietrich, how's Della?" Yerik asked about his beloved.

" We found her half dead and Violated in the sewers, those guards must've done it or that bitch." He replied with a hint of anger.

" Is she alive?" Yerik asked impatiently.

" Yes, but we suspect you'll be giving up active duty for a desk job after the Evac."

" Thank god, that stubborn girl's alive."

She looked at him, tears overflowing, and asked as her face flushed with hope:

" After all this, It'll be over right? It'll all end? We'll be together"

Dietrich lowered his head and gave no reply to her inquiry.

" What's the matter?" She asked caressing his cheek. He took her hand and spoke:

" I am sorry liebling." He stated with his legs crossed.

"You would have to forgive me if I return in a body bag."

" Dietrich you fuckin idiot!" Yerik screamed.

" You shouldn't have said that!" B scolded.

Her body froze, as her blood boiled her head. She made a fist and before long, punched him in the jaw. His body tried to recover from the shock as a barrage of punches landed on his body.

The two were stunned at her speed. That is until he clinched her with an embrace that made her punches weaker. She yielded to his demand and joined as well.

With tears flowing from her eyes and the clock struck two; she asked for one last thing before he leaves.

" Dietrich, tell me this." She said as she stood with him looking him straight in the eye.

" You'll be back here in one piece, I want to be with you even if that meant forever. I don't want any bodybags nor corpses on my doorstep! Please promise me this!" She said with a sharp glare and an unforgiving tone.

" I will, I promise." He replied as she cried, head on his chest.

" Dietrich, we're up!" Yerik said tapping him in the shoulder.

He stood up and composed himself before approaching the door. Looking back he saw her sitting on the floor with her head down.

" I'll be back, I promise." He said but it did nothing. She only resented the word.

He walked back towards her and kneeling on the ground, he cleared her face of her messed up hair. Looking at her sad pretty eyes he gave her a lover's kiss before giving her another solemn one on the forehead.

He backtracked towards the door. Looking back he sees her looking at him, bidding him to stay.

" I can't promise anything anymore, but I will come back." He said smiling as he closed the door.

She reached her hand in defiance. Hoping he would at least spend a few minutes with her. But she did it too late. The door closed and Emelia was alone now for a while. She curled into a fetal position on the ground. Asking, hoping god to turn back time and bring her to the past or let fate give her something better.

None answered as she waited for hours till daybreak.

'Alone, alone, alone. Must I die alone?'