Brothers in Romance

With all their essentials packed, the Coffee Knights left in the dead of night and camped out at Graham’s house, waiting for morning to come.

When the sun rose, they marched beyond Espada City’s borders, and headed toward the coordinates of Astraea’s Renegades.

Not-so-hidden behind a humongous boulder stood a towering cross between a barge and a yacht, rolling on massive threaded wheels. Over twenty meters tall, forty meters long, its ivory hull shimmered with blue carbon-fiber streaks that caught the morning light. A loading bay hatch yawned open on its side, revealing a glimpse of chevals mounted on elevated maintenance platforms.

Captain Chiara called this mobile base and carrier ‘Ganymede’—home of the Renegades.

Ace rolled up in a jeep and picked them up, dropping them off at the open bay where a crew of five mechanics paused their work to greet the newcomers. The Lionheart sat among the machines—still intact, but paint scratched and faded from its fight with Leticia.

“Welcome to the Ganymede, you three,” Ace said with a chuckle. “I’ll go get the Captain. Make yourself comfortable while you wait, why don’t ya?”

The Coffee Knights dropped their bags at the guest quarters and split off to familiarized themselves with their new surroundings.

Leena rushed to the hangar bay, eyes gleaming, already half-scaling the Lionheart she’d just found treasure. Anton sniffed out the mess hall within minutes, striking up a one-sided conversation with the crew. Graham paced between them both, thoughts unmoored.

He sat on a bench at the edge of the bay, staring out—but not at anything in particular. He watched Leena crawl all over the mech like a bug, but he wasn’t really watching her.

He was here now.

But she wasn’t.

“Maya…”

Everything moved too fast. He and Maya never had the chance to exchange contacts. He’d hidden his motivations from the others for so long, that all opportunities to ask them about her had already passed.

He pulled his phone out anyway, hoping. Maybe she’d sent something. Maybe he just forgot. But all he found was his playlist of her songs.

Maya’s voice was there—but not the girl herself.

He slumped against the wall. His body was there, on the Ganymede, but his mind wandered.

Somehow further and closer to his goals, at the same time.

Ace plopped down beside him. Gave his back a solid thud. “What’s with you? You’re here now, buddy.”

Graham glanced at him, looking all sullen. “Just thinking.”

“Homesick already?”

“No, it’s just…” Graham studied Ace’s face and remember what Captain Chiara said: Ace had joined for—or in spite of—someone too. “There’s someone I wanna see. I came all this way for her. And she’s not even here to see me off.”

Ace grinned. “Ahh. A girl, huh?”

“You can tell?”

“Us guys can tell when other guys are hurting for their girl,” Ace snapped his fingers. “So, why don’t you go see her?”

Graham blinked. “I thought we were waiting for the Captain?”

“She’s still getting ready. Not like she’ll say anything she won’t say again later. Unless…” Ace leaned in with a smug grin. “You wanna see her big kahoonas. Those huge zingers. I wouldn’t blame you, it’s kind of a spectacle—”

“N-no!” Graham stammered, ears red. He’d thought about it—but not like that. Maya was still more important.

“Alright, alright,” Ace waved it off, laughing. “Then call her? Set something up. We’re not shoving off for at least another two days.”

“I don’t have her contact. Or any way to reach her.”

Ace stared. “You’re kidding. The girl you left everything for and you don’t even know where to find her?”

“She’s with the embassy. They’re keeping her safe. That’s all I know.” He nodded. “I have no idea what to do with that information.”

Ace smirked.

“But I do.”

Graham blinked twice. “What?”

“Get up.” Ace rose from the bench and led Graham toward the chevals in the hangar bay. He motioned toward the thinnest unit among them—a cheval with the silhouette of a lightning bolt. Its hull glazed with a near-offensive shade of red, radiating an aura of sheer attitude that clashed against the Lionheart’s more knightly presence.

“Your cheval?” Graham asked.

“It’s called the Mach Red,” Ace said, puffing his chest. “It’ll get us into the city really fast. And it’s our ticket to the embassy.”

Graham shook his head. “Wait, we’re not going now, are we?”

“Why the hell not?”

Ace pressed a button on a handheld remote. With a beep, the cockpit hatch on the chest of the Mach Red creaked open, and a rappel line slithered down. Ace clambered on it, and beckoned Graham to do the same.

“You coming?”

Graham hesitated.

Then, Ace reached out a hand.

“A real man does the stupidest things for the girl he loves,” he said, smiling with absurd confidence. “Life’s too short for regrets.”

Graham had no idea what Ace had planned—but if he’d joined the Renegades on faith alone…

…why stop believing now?

He grabbed Ace’s arm. The rappel yanked them up into the cockpit. The hatch clamped shut just as a few nearby engineers fell flat on their butts from the sudden movement. One of them, a burly man with a mane of thick, brown facial hair, slammed a palm on the closed hatch and yelled after them.

“Borrowing this for a sec, Pedro,” Ace said over the comms.

Down below, Leena turned away from the Lionheart just in time to see the whole thing unfold. Her eyes widened. She broke into a run toward the Mach Red.

“Hammy, what the hell? Where are you going?”

“Forgot something in the city,” Graham’s voice crackled through the external speakers. “We’ll be back right away.”

“Cool your jets, Marida,” Ace chimed in smugly.

“M-Marida?”

The nickname completely threw her. She knew what Ace was referencing, but why on earth was she being called that?

The Mach Red strutted out of the loading bay, sending the maintenance crew scrambling. Leena made a beeline for the bay controls, ready to close the doors—only for a calloused hand to stop her.

Pedro, the rugged mechanic, gave a single shake of the head.

“Ace does that. Don’t worry about it.”

Now out on the badlands, the Mach Red glided low to the ground, whipping up clouds of dust as it blazed toward Espada City. Inside the cockpit—surprisingly roomy compared to the Lionheart’s or the Ryzels’, Graham sat on the side, glancing out as the landscape raced past.

Ace hovered a palm over a green latch. “Hold on tight.”

The cockpit shuddered. The view on the monitor dropped lower to the ground until it felt like they were scraping the earth.

Then the cheval surged forward.

It wasn’t quite as fast as the Lionheart, but it was damn close. Graham started at the status monitor, noticing the cheval’s frame diagram shifting on the screen.

The humanoid shape morphed—into something closer to a four-wheeled racer.

“Your cheval transforms into a car?” Graham said, incredulous.

“Morphable frames, baby,” Ace grinned. “Only a handful of these bad boys ever got made, and I just happen to own one. Pretty rad, right?”

Graham traced the new frame diagram with a finger. “This is amazing. Wait ‘till Anton and Leena find out about this.”

The Mach Red crossed in the city’s borders, its frame adjusting effortlessly to the pavement. It handled like a beast-sized car, more hotrod than cheval.

“So,” Ace said. “Tell me about the girl.”

“Maya?”

“Yeah. What’s the story with you two?”

Graham hesitated at first, then let it pour out. Her voice—her song—had saved him more times than he could count. She entered his life like a falling store, a twist of fate so absurd it felt divine. Her presence helped him claw out of defeat and pull off the impossible. And now he got recruited into the Renegades because of it—because of her.

Ace listened in silence, eyes forward, nodding slowly. He’s found it: a fellow brother in romance.

“Damn,” he said with a low chuckle. “If you weren’t so serious, I’d call bull. That’s straight up fairytale stuff.”

“It sounds like it, yeah,” Graham said. “But I meant every word.”

“I believe you.”

Ace slowed the Mach Red as the embassy district came into view. With a smooth pivot, the mech returned to its upright form and parked in the embassy building’s gardens.

“Us guys can tell when another guy’s caught up over a girl.”

Right on cue, Zenonas burst out of the embassy doors, flanked by his aide and a squad of guards. He stormed into the garden, pointing furiously at the mech.

“Ace!” he roared. “How many more times must all these chevals desecrate my gardens. Stop it, I say!”

“Your gardens?” Ace fired back through the comms. “Pretty sure the taxpayers own that grass.”

The guards raised their rifles. Two aimed for the cockpit.

“Relax,” Ace said, unfazed. “We’re just here to ask a few questions.”

“Then I demand you ask them through the proper channels!”

“Can’t wait that long. You know how it is.” Ace’s voice sharpened. “Besides, I’m looking for someone. Maya Hamasaki. Ring any bells?”

Zenonas stiffened. “I-I’m afraid not. Why do you ask?”

Graham leaned into the comms. “It’s Akkwood, Your Excellency. Is she here?”

Zenonas stomped closer. “S-she is not here!”

“Careful now,” Ace’s voice dropped low and dangerous. “You’re lying, and we both know it. Just reminding you that I still got receipts on all the stuff you’ve done. Would be a shame if it released to the public or something.”

Zenonas froze. He glanced at the guards and gave a reluctant nod. They lowered their weapons.

First Leticia. Now Ace. Just how many people had dirt on the High Commissioner?

Then, the door behind him opened.

Maya stepped in the sun, now dressed in local Astonian garb, a ribbed turtleneck wrapped her throat, concealing whatever left its mark.

“Gram?” she called out.

“Maya!” Graham flung the hatch open and rappelled down into the grass.

She met him halfway, pressing her hands to his cheeks like she didn’t believe he was real. “You’re alive,” she whispered.

“Of course I am,” he smiled. “I don’t die that easy.”

“I feared the worst after the fight,” Maya bit her lip. “You just wouldn’t wake up. I thought...”

Graham flexed an arm and gave a half-laugh. “Still kicking. You wanna hang out?”

She glanced back at the embassy, hesitating. Her fingers brushed her neck—half-remembering the non-existent pressure of something she thought was there. Word of her ‘real’ contacts had just reached her. They were coming. She should stay.

But when Graham held out his hand—

—She couldn’t.

Not yet.

She took it.

With a gentle tug on the rappel, they zipped back up into the cockpit. Three bodies now crammed into a space built for two.

“Your Excellency,” Ace called down from above, voice echoing across the lawn. “Borrowing your guest for a bit. You know where to find us... if you’ve got the guts.”

The Mach Red turned and bolted from the embassy, kicking up grass and dust as it tore across the city.

Maya was with them now.

And Graham didn’t know what excited him more—Maya, or the Renegades?