The Fleeting Days of Leaves

Rell walked down the flight of the stairs, his mind swirling with a myriad of different emotions, mostly anger. He didn't trust Six-Seven. She was definitely hiding something, but he couldn't tell what. He also knew that she was playing him. He couldn't shake the sense that she knew his emotional weaknesses, a undue familiarity he hadn't even revealed to Alicia. It gave him great unease. 

Rell reached the two large doors that separated the stairwell from the main lobby. Two of the armed Sister guards moved to open it for him, but he pushed past them, opening it himself. 

"You brat! Mind I remind you who's older?" Rin growled, locking hands with Rena. 

"Mind I remind you who became a Squad Captain first, Big Sis?" Rena pushed back, rage in her purple eyes. 

"Guys, please stop!" Elena protested, trying to push her way between them, before getting shoved out of the way. 

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Tia chanted, standing atop of a bench, the other two little girls joining in unison. 

A few other Sisters had stopped what they were doing to watch the battle unfold. Rell watched in confusion and bewilderment. 

"Second place!" Rin spat out. 

"Peed herself multiple times during training!" Rena shot back. 

"Is still scared of the dark and spiders!" Rin howled. 

"Keeps gambling away her food rations for stupid motorcycle posters!" Rena hissed. 

Hina stormed past Rell, the sound of her clicking heels against the tile floor echoing in the chamber. The other Sisters reacted quickly, recognizing the sound of death approaching, dispersing in various directions. Even the three little girls recognized the noise, instantly jumping down and fleeing from the approaching reaper. 

"Flee!" Tia ordered, the trio skittering off. 

Elena's face grew pale as she saw the Sixth generation Sister approached. She backed off, coming to attention with a look of pure fear on her face. 

"You brat!" Rin screamed. 

"Monkey in Sister form!" Rena flustered, unable to think of a better insult. 

"Ha! Is that the best you got?" Rin laughed. 

Hina grabbed both of them by the shoulders, a look of pure dread appearing on both of their faces. They turned to face the inevitable. 

"What are you two monkeys doing?" Hina asked, a smile on her face. 

"Ma'am..." Rin quivered. 

"Mhm!!!" Rena squealed, unable to make any coherent words. 

Her gripped tightened on both of them, her smile widening. 

"This is a military compound. Not a place for children's bickering."

"Yes Ma'am..." They quivered, tears forming in both their eyes. 

"Elena..." Hina turned to the blonde girl. 

"Yes!" She shrieked, standing up straighter. 

"Do you mind watching Sir Rell? It looks like Rena will be temporarily occupied." Hina directed. 

"Yes Ma'am!" She said, her whole body shaking. 

"I'm going to have a word with you two. Please step into my office." Hina ordered, a wide smile on her face as she dragged the two of them away. 

"No!!!" They cried as they disappeared behind a door. 

"That's a familiar sight..." Rell sighed, scratching his head. 

He remembered how much he would bicker with West, especially when they both first showed up. Their hot-headed personalities didn't help, and more often than not resulted in fist fights. The Guard-Captain chewed them out more times then he could remember. 

"The Commander get what she want out of you?" Elena asked, leaning into Rell. 

"More or less. She wants me to kill the Overlord in the city." He said. 

"Really?" Elena gasped. "That thing has been killing us for nearly a hundred years now!" 

Rell's stomach suddenly growled. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. In fact, he hadn't eaten before his last mission. So it had been... about 150 years since his last meal?

"Oh, food food." Elena waved. "If I recall, Mel said she'll be roasting a pig a couple Sisters caught the other day. Let's go grab some then, shall we?" 

Rell followed Elena out of the headquarters building. They walked for a few moments before coming to a stop. Several Sisters had lined up along the road, forming a row, as if watching a parade walk by. 

"Oh no." Elena looked at Rell, growing teary eyed. "I'm sorry, I need to see who it is!" she said, before suddenly rushing off towards the crowd. 

"Hey! Wait! You're supposed to be watching me!" Rell yelled, following after her. 

Rell pushed his way through the group of Sisters, suddenly finding himself towards the front of the group next to Elena. A group of Sisters walked along the road. Many of them were injured it seemed. The worst one was a tanned skinned Sister who was missing an arm and an eye. She had bloodied bandages covered her stub, with a makeshift cloth covering her face. 

Three stretchers followed behind this injured group. They had white cloths streched over the bloodied corpses. 

"Sia..." Elena reached out to the injured Sister. 

"My whole squad..." the eye patched girl fought back tears. 

"No..." Elena shook her head. 

Sia broke, sobbing into Elena's arms. 

"Damn them! Damn them all!" She cried. 

Two Sisters reached for Sia, pulling her away. Elena reached for her, but stopped herself, knowing that she had a funeral to perform. Elena wished that she could follow, but Sisters were not allowed to enter the domain of the holy tree without permission. 

"Are you okay?" Rell came over, reaching out to the Sister.

"I knew those girls." Elena said, wiping away tears. "And Sia was one of my closest Sisters. We were born only a couple days of each other." 

"I'm sorry." Rell said, trying to offer whatever comfort he could, but failing. 

"It's okay." Elena shook her head. "We lose Sisters everyday. This isn't really unusual." She turned back towards Rell, putting on her best smile. "Shall we keep going?"