Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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Grey urged Dr. Gio to let him out. Even though he was injured, he wasn't injured enough to stay in the med bay the entire time. He wanted to help his Silas defeat Caspian!
"You must be careful! You can't do strenuous movements or you will cause the internal bleeding to get worse. You almost died!"
Dr. Gio went back to his nagging mode, which Grey didn't stop. He kept saying that he would be careful, that he would not get into the mecha, and all these things until Dr. Gio was satisfied.
Grey walked out of the med bay and slowly made his way to the command center where Silas was. He already messaged Silas, so when he got to the door, he saw Silas waiting for him.
Silas brought him into a hug in front of everyone, but he did not care. Everyone knew of their relationship, so he thought it was fine.
"I heard from Uncle Gio that you wanted to leave the med bay. Are you feeling better now?"
"I'm doing a lot better. I can't do a lot of physical activity, but standing next to you is fine."
"That's fine. You can let me take care of the rest."
Silas supported Grey into the command center. Grey didn't mind the care and let Silas do as he pleased. The two walked in together and were saluted by the other soldiers.
Everyone went back to what they were doing. Silas was the one to fill Grey in on the details.
"After chasing Caspian into the asteroid belt, we lost them when we got out. We will be combing through the planets near the asteroid belt. Captain Aylward is also helping. He was on the other side of the asteroid belt but he didn't see where Caspian landed."
Silas said while grinding his teeth in anger, "They couldn't have gotten too far. They were hit multiple times, so it wouldn't be surprising if they crash landed nearby."
It made sense since System 225 lost signal with Caspian's spacecraft and hologram.
"Don't leave any planets untouched. We will be able to find a crash site eventually." Grey smiled at the map displayed in the center of the command center.
The map was in a large circle and displayed a holographic screen. They could zoom in and out but could not see the details of each planet. It only had the names of the planet and its surrounding moons.
"I agree. It won't take long to find him. Since he's injured, he couldn't have gone very far."
It was only a matter of time before they found Caspian. Silas didn't care if they found him dead or alive. As long as he could confirm it, only then would he have some peace of mind.
*****
Caspian did his best to stand up, but he found that his left leg was severely wounded and there was a large puncture wound on his stomach. He had scratches, bruises, and first-degree burns on the rest of his body, but they didn't hurt as much as the wounds on his stomach and leg did.
He dragged himself away from the spacecraft that was lit on fire and stumbled into the woods. He didn't know where he was going; didn't know how to survive in the wild. He at least knew he had to find shelter, water, and some food. He had no clue how to find water or food so he decided to find shelter first.
Caspian went in the direction of the mountain. He thought he could find a cave or a stream coming down the mountain.
He didn't know how far it was, but he still kept going, even when the sun started to set.
He was just glad Silas didn't find him yet. He knew Silas would kill him with his own hands, so it was better to not let him have that chance at all. He would run for the rest of his life if he had to.
Caspian didn't want to die, but it was better than dying in Silas' hands.
He didn't know how long he walked, but he somehow made it to the mountain with his limp leg. There was a small opening at the base of the mountain. It didn't go far into the mountain, so he could see there was nothing living in the cave. He checked around and there were no footprints, signs of feces, or food waste.
He could finally sit down.
Caspian leaned up against the wall of the cave and closed his eyes.
He couldn't help but think that this was it.
When getting closer to death, people did a lot of thinking, Caspian wasn't the only one.
Did Silas sit in a cave like this? Did he wonder if he was going to die?
No, Silas had Grey. And he had no one.
"Ironic, isn't it? What goes around really does come around." He chuckled coldly.
He couldn't understand how and why he was alive anymore. It didn't matter though, he could feel his body slowly deteriorating. His life flashed before his eyes as he saw memories of everything he could remember.
He had nothing to cover his wounds, no medicine, and no one to help him.
Caspian ended up passing away before Silas and Grey could get to him.
The First Legion and the Silver-Tongued Snakes were a couple of hours too late. When Captain Aylward found Caspian, he was already dead.
According to Dr. Gio, he died of blood loss.
Silas watched his men put Caspian into a body bag. They also took his butler out of the debris to be buried properly. Even though he helped Caspian, the man was only doing his job. No one could blame him. He deserved to be properly mourned for…
"If you weren't with me, Grey, I would have died alone… Just like him."
Grey didn't say anything. He just brought Silas into his arms and patted his back. Grey knew that Silas would have survived without him there. He just wouldn't have an easy time though. He would be disabled for the rest of his life… Still, it was better that he was there for him.
Silas hugged him back. He felt the coldness from his body disappear and it was replaced with warmth. He didn't hate Caspian, but he didn't have good feelings for him either. When he was young, he thought they would be able to get along one day, but he was naive.
Caspian hated him so much to the point he wanted him to die. He knew it was because Caspian felt his place in life was threatened by his existence.
He wanted to think about the "if only" and the "what ifs" but he knew that it was all useless.
Captain Aylward tapped Silas and Grey on the shoulder. "We found this in the cave."
In his hand was a small box. Inside was less than half a small bottle of clear liquid. They all knew it was the poison that Caspian used to try to kill Grey and Silas.
"It's a shame that he spent his whole life clouded by hate," Aylward mumbled to himself before finally sighing. "I, too, was once clouded by hate, but eventually I realized hate would not give me peace."
After that, Captain Aylward took his men and left the remote planet. Where they went next, Silas and Grey did not know.
But they knew that they would all meet again one day.
*****
When the First Legion got back to the capital star, Crown Prince Amory Fedrana was already waiting for them.
"Silas, Grey, perfect timing. We have Norton in our custody."
"Perfect, let's make sure he is punished for his crimes."
"Of course. Ah, how about Caspian?"
Prince Amory grew up with Silas so he knew about Caspian's hate. At one point, Caspian tried to get him to scheme against Silas, but he didn't want that.
Even though he was competitive, he wanted to beat Silas with his own hands, not with some cheap schemes.
Silas stopped walking before shaking his head. "He had already died before we could get to him."
After that, Silas grabbed Grey's hand and the two walked into the Imperial Palace together. Prince Amory walked beside Grey.
After Caspian's death, Silas wouldn't have any immediate family members left.
It was a good thing that Grey was with Silas. The two were together and Silas would never have to fear being alone.
Once Norton's death sentence was issued, System 225 notified Grey of his success in completing the Main Mission. He didn't know how to feel about the completion of the missions, but he thanked System 225 for all the help.
Without System 225, he wouldn't have known how he could survive in this world with limited information and fragmented memories.
This interstellar universe was quite chaotic. From battling Zergs without his mecha and protecting Silas with his life to getting poisoned. There were many times when he almost died.
He knew it was just a B-ranked world, but it was still pretty difficult.
Grey had to prepare himself for the next three worlds… He was almost there. He just had to keep going…