My world was engulfed in silver light. Its expanse reached every end, stretching as far as the eye could see. My mind was in shambles. I held my head, I processed everything I just saw. The battle in the arena, the battle in the throne room, the date with Erianna, and her death. They all felt painfully familiar to me. I crumpled to my knees. My emotions were too much to process. I could only cry. I choked thinking about every one of them.
The silver light around soon focused itself into a single point. The world around me was blurry. I could hear voices in the distance, they sounded like they were miles away. I blinked once as the world started to come into focus. I could faintly see two faces looming over me, the voices were getting louder. I blinked again, and everything came into focus.
Dok and Angel were overlooking me " Hunter! Hunter!" Dok's voice was the one I heard first, his facial expression was extremely worried and troubled. I looked at him, groggy and too lethargic to react.
"Captain! Are you okay?" I faintly heard a voice from my right. I saw the timid brown-haired, green-eyed girl looking at me. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. What was happening? Why are they so concerned?
I finally gathered my strength and used it to sit up. As I did, my head started spinning, it felt like I was gonna fall. I felt arms holding my sides as I nearly fell back down from nausea. Dok and Angel still looked at me full of worry. After an excruciating few minutes, I felt like myself again. However, I still rested my head on my palms and let my legs touch the ground. I was still thinking of the dreams I had a while ago.
"Captain? How do you feel ?" Dok's questions broke my train of thought. I looked at him, thinking about his question. He mustn't know, none of them should. It was his matter to deal with. They were already too kind to him.
" I'm fine, Dok. Perfectly fine," I gave him a tight and restrained smile. He looked at me, knowing full well that I was lying. However, I can see in his eyes when he just gave in and decide not to press further.
" If you insist, Cap. But I do advise you to rest more, the nightmares will go away eventually." He turned away from me and started typing on his computer. I looked down, I was in no mood to reply. "As for your check-up sir. Nothing major, minor cuts. Other than your psychotic episode where you almost killed us in your sleep." I still looked down in his sleep. I was ashamed. Did I really almost kill them?
I frowned and recognised the armour of the man on the screen. Ballasteer. I examined his surroundings and saw several ships and water behind him. In addition to that, my men. Their helmets and masks have been forcibly removed and their weapons stripped. They looked battered, beaten and bruised. They must have endured intense torture. I clenched my fists and ground my teeth. Anger was rising like a raging tide.
"Captain Hunter of the Ion Skulls." Ballasteer started speaking. Hearing his voice only ticked me off more. I resisted every fibre in my being to not smash the screen. " I know you don't want to leave your men in the hands of the enemy. So I will give you one chance. I will let them go, every last one of your precious gang will be free if you turn yourself in." Ballasteer then whipped a pistol from his holster and took aim at one of my men. I let out a low growl. Angel and Dok seemed to have taken a step back.
" I give you 24 hours Hunter! Don't keep me waiting. Meet me at the docks if you ever want to see your precious gangsters again. Otherwise...." Ballasteer pulled the trigger as a bright light emanated from the muzzle. The bolt brushed past on my men and landed in the water instead. The broadcast turned off just at that moment.
The 3 turned to look at me, Dok an Angel in total petrification and Draco tried to gauge what I was planning. I simply smirked. They dared to provoke me. Military or not, they will not get away with what they just did. " They think they can just threaten me and walk away...Very well." I turned away to prepare to go up the stairs.
" Ready the men inside this barracks, Angel. Tell them at in 7 hours, I will be going through the plan to rescue our boys." I looked in Angel's direction. She was obviously still quaking, but she nodded at my orders.
" Yes sir." She said instinctively.
" Draco," I started, looking over my shoulder. He looked up at me. He seemed nonchalant as always, but I knew he was raring to go. " I expect to see you there. I expect your men to give full cooperation to this operation. We are a team now, lest you forget that." I said, eying him dangerously. He gave a small smirk and nodded with conviction.
Satisfied, I returned to my room upstairs and locked the door. I looked at the dresser with Erianna's things on them. My anger quickly evaporated just thinking about her. She was the light of my life. I grabbed the gun from the dresser and slowly sat on the bed. I propped my elbows on my thighs and pressed the gun to my forehead. I started thinking of her. What she would say at a time like this. It all felt so long ago. I don't even know what she would say. I wanted to go back to sleep to see her again, to ask her. But I can't handle seeing her die in my arms again.
"Elune Tora Noxius Eden Solar," I muttered silently as a prayer. My eyes are pressed closed. A single tear dropped from my eye. " I miss you ..." I muttered. I opened my eyes to see the revolver glowing silver. The light faded quickly as I wiped my eyes. I'm sure she wouldn't want to see me cry.
"As for your arm sir, same old. Components withing are too intricate and delicate for my rather inexperienced hands to touch. Not to mention I can't even open it up. We are gonna need to find an imperial doctor if you wanna get that thing fixed." Dok continued rattling off the report. I gave a neutral hum to him as a response. I was still rather absent-minded. Erianna... I want to see her again. Then, I remembered something. I grabbed my shirt and was about to bolt upstairs, standing up from the table. However, before I could ascend the steps, Draco was standing over it with a serious look on his face.
Angel frowned. She obviously still doesn't trust Draco. Draco took my silence and the way I stood still as his signal to continue. "Apologies for interrupting, friends. But there is something you need to see. " Draco said, attempting to sound polite. He swiped the remote from the nearby stand, next to the operating table. He pushed a few buttons as the screen lit up with a message on the news.