"Well, Are you ready?" A feminine voice sounded from a sonorous window pane.

"What do you think? You know I am always ready General even for a fight." A rough male voice replied back.

"Alright then…" The general replied as a door creaked open.

A group of female soldiers, here and there were busily minding their own business.

"Oh General!?" A female who was rather tall replied, stopping the twirling of her old short trusty pencil.

Most of the females got up to give respect. They stood still and faced to the front.

Chau-Min and Sherrinford were also present, but they changed. Both physically and mentally too.

Chau-Min had finally grown a few inches and had longer hair.

Sherrinford on the other hand just had bigger parts on her. Thighs, Chest and Bums. Guess she trained hard to use her rifle properly.

Rikae and Captain Shanina were nowhere to be found.

"Where's Miss Leutenneger?" The general asked.

"Captain went to the infirmary with Miss Rikae. They went to take their medicine." One of the female soldiers answered.

"Echelon cease down the attention… I got a special announcement. " The general told them.

"Is there an offer on the newer gun brands?" Another soldier asked.

"No, no ...something a bit more on the good side then typical military things." The general replied back.

General Ferdunov turned towards the empty outside and looked at the side, calling the male to enter.

"Something a bit more surprising…" the General smirked.

Step~ step~

"Heyah Guys!~." William popped his head in.

For a few seconds, the echelon were rather confused about what was happening. Then, it hit them.

"W..w.. William?" Chau-Min pointed towards the male figure in a panicked state.

"Yes, it's me …" He came in. He combed his long hair to cover his eyepatch. Trying to act as natural as he really was in the past.

Sherrinford's lips twitched. "How in god's name?" She asked herself, questioning her sanity.

"You guys are not really happy , I'm back huh? Welp, back to the grave I guess…" He made a joke on animating the dead.

"Wait wait … how are you alive Will? Did someone manage to clone your genes? Did a Guardian revive you ? What happened…!?" Chau-Min shouted towards him.

"We were guilty sick about your absence William, You were killed in action! " Chau-Min was really paranoid, her sanity must be in a running panic.

"Chill Chau-Min, it's not normal for you to start panicking…" The tall soldier told the panic stricken soldier named Chau-Min.

"Alright alright, No. I wasn't revived nor clone. It was a gift from God. Yes, heaven and hell exists but not in the way our religions teach us. It's more of an alternate reality then a higher plane or realm." William explained.

"You guys changed, I'm happy for you, please be happy for me. Turn the frown upside down please." William tried to make a good mood towards the crew.

"Alright alright…" Most of them replied and heaved a sigh, giving their brightest and cutest smile they could make.

"Ahhh nice, the beauty of the feminine kind…" William Chuckled.

"How about you General, why don't you smile?" William questioned her with a innocent looking smile.

"Silly boy, I cannot smile till something good happens to our remaining population." The general replied back as she slaps William's back abit too hard.

"Ow…~" he rubs his back.

The echelon of females giggled, most of them.

"By the way, my stuff is still remaining here. How and why?" William asked as he walked to his bunk bed that he shared with Chau-Min.

He opened his drawer, the note that he meant to send to Brigadier Damonica is still there.

"Yeah, we kept it there to keep as a memorial. But now, since you are here, I guess you could make use of them once more." Chau-Min explained to William.

"Cool! Are my weapons and uniform still in the locker room?" William asked.

"Yes, they are all still there. Especially your Guardian aegis." General Ferdunov answered William.

"Today is a really bad day to be honest…" Sherrinford said out loud.

"Why is it?" William asked as he puts on his favourite coat .

"It's winter again in the middle of February. So it has been raining for weeks. Most of our missions were a failure and all of us ...well are not well" she explained.

(Depression, I understand…) "Well, it's not always easy to get used to something, it will take a while. Even if it's 5 or 9 years to be honest." William replied.

William noticed behind their smile that there was a saddened aura. Due to his stay in Hell, he had made contracts with his Guardian Demon causing his neural transmitting to his Brain to be able to sense problems though he can't really control it and it is not always useful.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry for what happened the past years!" William kneeled and fisted his hand towards his heart.

"I know you guys couldn't handle the loss of a friend but I had came back for your sakes. Please forgive me as I was a total idiot !" William shouted throughout the room.

It was so loud, it echoed throughout the close corridors and hallways.

General Ferdunov left a smile as she left the room. (Let them take care of it…)

Chau-Min walked towards William and pulled him up, giving him a hug. "Please we don't want to lose you again, alright…" she said softly as she dropped a few tears.

"Yeah, don't be an idiot again… I don't want to make fun of you again!" Sherrinford said as she pats William's back on the rash that the General made.

(Ahh!~) William screamed in his head as he held his pain.

"What's going on…?" Captain Shanina knocked the open door as she entered. "Who is that~?"

Chau-Min looks at Shanina and smiles. She turned William by pushing his shoulders.

"This is who…" Chau-Min chuckled.

Captain Shanina raised her eyebrows in surprise. Still keeping her monotonic behaviour. "..."

Rikae who was being pushed by Captain Shanina as she was in her Wheelchair looked up at the bodily figure.

"William woke up?" She innocently asked.

"Yes, William has woken up from sleep." William answered.

As Rikae is constantly in her own world and since she can't really tell the time, she thought William was asleep for a far too long hours. For her world, it was considered a 6-12 hours of sleep.

"Yeah! Now I can show you my newer drawings. I made a lot while William was asleep." She cheekily said as cheered.

William smiled. As softly he could speak so she wouldn't consider it a shout, he said "Yeah! I wouldn't mind~."

Shanina made a small smile as she wheeled Rikae back to her bunk bed.

Captain Shanina walked towards William . She took off her gloves and handed her hand. "Welcome back from the dead, Mr Endicrite." She didn't really know what else to say.

"Danke, Frau Leutenegger ." He shook her hand which was quite rough and hard like stone.

Captain Shanina puts on her glove and walked towards the door. "I have to go do my work … don't do anything stupid."

She left the door shut.

William spend his next few hours hanging out and retelling his new stories of Hell and Heaven towards the girls. (The memories implanted to his head from alternate realities.)

"Damn… Sounds like something from a Fantasy Novel." Chau-Min replied.

"I know right..!? Unfortunately, it actually hurts." William made a soft smile towards the circle.

Sherrinford watched the interaction as she listened to her tunes on her phone with one earphone into her ear.

…

"Can I leave now?" Rose said as she pushed away her gang who was blocking her exit while holding her sniper rifle.

"Chill Rose, your aim is getting worse lately. Be patient and slow." A soldier from another echelon told her.

"I can't forget it ! Everytime I aim ...I always have this sense of panic. I can't be a sniper anymore, I give up!" She screamed hysterically.

"You are our only good sniper in the team, you have to stay … Yes, you may have been kicked from Phantom and deranked but you’re still a soldier." The soldier explained to her.

"It's not about that, it's about what happened in the past!" She was getting senile.

"Rose, Listen, that was the past. It was five years ago … You have to chill or else Navigator will probably get you kicked from the base too."

Trying to calm her hyperventilating, General Ferdunov secretly listened and watched her conversation for the past few hours they were there in the Firing Zone.

(It's impossible to bring William to her. She would go crazy for sure…but I should just try.) General Ferdunov talked in her head.

Rose looks at her phone, getting a notification.

"Excuse me, but I have to go guys… I got to go for my meeting." General Ferdunov sent Rose a notification through her phone as she entered the meeting room.

General Ferdunov changed her behaviour back to her typical strict facade.

Rose knocks the door.

"You may enter…" General Ferdunov replied.

Rose enters and closes the door, taking a seat , she fumbled around, in stress and frustration.

"How were you for the past few days, Miss Rose?" General Ferdunov asked in her calm manner.

"It was alright , I guess…" Rose answered back, muttering to herself.

"Lately I had been giving reports that your mental health has changed. The drill master also said you were getting worse in your rifling skills." General Ferdunov read the notice she was given.

"I..I...I can explain General. I just wasn’t in my best mood lately." Rose replied as she puts her head low.

General Ferdunov nods. "You could have joined the mental health talks going on in our Wellbeing Hub but you didn't even enter any one of them by record. Tell me Rose, can you explain please?"

"No, I can't …" Rose replied.

"You can't or you don't want to?" William replied as he came out from the shadows.

"I really can't~. Wait?" Rose raised her head towards the direction of the voice.

"William? What the [email protected]#£&!?" She screamed in the small room causing William And the General to close their ears.

"Calm down Rose… I know it's a surprise but I can tell you, the bullet actually gave an ache to my head." He was pretending to be a zombie.

"General? What is this… Was he animated from the death or what!?" Rose demanded for an answer.

"Rose , Calm down… He is playing a fool with you, no he wasn't reanimated. He was revived from an unknown encounter." The general replied.

"Was it a guardian?" Rose asked again.

"No, it was god." William replied back.

"God revived you? So you are saying there is a such thing as a god?" Rose asked. She was an atheist , owch.

"Yes… there is a god. Just not how you expect it to be." William replied.

Rose started to get her sense back, she started weeping.

"Rose, you alright?" William went to her , patting her back.

"It's just that … ~~ if I didn't wait a second longer, I could have made the shot perfectly ." She covered her face and cried.

"I am sorry, I am so sorry William!" She started talking to herself.

"It's alright ...really …" William said as he tried calming the maiden.

"I know..I know…" she whimpered as she tried to stop her crying.

General Ferdunov shakes her head. (Didn't expect her to cry ...she is usually very calm and motivated.)

"I heard you were kicked from Phantom and deranked, was that correct?" William asked.

"Yes … that one failed shot cause my rank to turn down." Rose said softly.

"General, could you add her back, I'm already here again." William asked.

"Sorry can't do, once she is deranked and kicked out from an Echelon she can only reconsider it after five more years of her service." General Ferdunov explained.

"Ten years just to get back to her original rank… that's awful." William sighed.

"Rules are rules, William." Rose said.

"But..~ it can reconsidered as William is still alive as a proof. I just have to report him to his Family and the government. But, it might cause some… problems due to the inconsistency of time." General Ferdunov said.

"Really?!~" Rose raised her head once more, now with hope.

"Yes...Rose." General Ferdunov replied back.

"Well then, Let's get to it!" William cheered.

"We will have to see what your family and the government have to say…" General Ferdunov sighed once more.