8 Aftermath

"Gemei, what the hell are you even screaming about. The house is totally stationary. Are you slowly going insane?" Mei fired back after hearing Gemei's complaint. Out in the distance, three very quiet explosions could be heard coming from Truton, which was neither close nor far from where he lived. "I thought that area was quarantined off, why are their explosions happening?"

*BEEP! BEEP!* Someone was at his door. "No time to worry about that, Sophie is here for the books. I have to hide, like right now. Mei help me!" The reason why Gemei suddenly changed from calm and collected to paranoid was that outside school, Sophie Mirabelle is a completely different person. "Run into the basement," Mei suggested in hope of solving Gemei's conundrum. "No time for that, she's already at the front door."

*Kapow*, the door flung open by a kick delivered from Sophie. "Gemei, where are you, honey?" Still trying to desperately get away, Ashford headed for the back door but was petrified when he sensed Sophie's presence right behind him. *Gulp*, he slowly turned around to see Sophie ready and waiting for the right moment to pounce. "GEMEI!" then proceeded to hug and strangle him to death.

"CUT IT OUT SIS!" he vociferated loudly. The reason why Gemei acted that way is that he hated any kind of human attention. It made him agitated, which he despised. Not being able to control his emotions was the biggest fear he had.

"How's Top and Bottom coming along?"

"Well, I was writing the last paragraph until a certain someone rudely interrupted my moment of inspiration."

"Stop complaining, let's go to the study."

The week went by in a blink of an eye, "Oh boy, today's Saturday, I sorely regret showing my work to Sophie. After the day I completed Top and Bottom, she started harassing me about getting a publisher which I'm not a fan of. Being herself, she took on the challenge of getting my book published for god knows what reason to which she succeeded. Now I have to personally go meet them, pretty sure it will go south real quick."

*Beep! Beep!* Mirabelle was outside waiting on Gemei so that they could go meet the publisher. "Kill me now." He whispered to himself after getting in the car.

During the same time, at the Dragena headquarters, the whole staff personnel alongside the remaining Black Squad members were still grieving over the death of Second Lieutenant Rainhard Edwardson, Sergeant Major Silvio Grey, and First Sergeant Alvord Hugh.

"Let us all carry the memories of these amazing gentlemen throughout the rest of our lives. Thanks to their bravery and courage, everyone present here may live to see another day." Captain Koldok concluded his speech.

Rainhard Edwardson, Silvio Grey, and Alvord Hugh, those names were forever etched into the Dragena's history as heroes. A memorial was also specially built for them so that their bravery may be passed down from generation to generation.

Soon after a meeting was called,

"Vurdal Windtoe, you will be promoted to Second Lieutenant. Autumn Garnet, thanks to the reports we got from the remaining members, we have decided to promote you from Private to Sergeant. Alfie Quinston you also are promoted to Sergeant. Now to the matter at hand, as you guys know Black Squad nearly got wiped out during that last encounter. We have received special orders to recruit new soldiers. No specification has been made on what type of person we can enlist, so instead of recruiting members from the Black-Ops I have decided to leave that decision up to you guys. Alfie, Autumn, and Vurdal, you have been tasked to each pick out a candidate and present them here before the deadline which is five months from now. Also, your services during the five months will not be required, you guys are free to do whatever. This meeting is over."

Later that day, "Are you sure about this Koldok, letting them choose who will join the Black Knight isn't reckless in your mind?" Paien enquired. To which the Captain replied with, "Trust me; I've made this decision upon reviewing our team's morale, in any case, we have at least five years minimum before the next assault from the Syncros thus giving us plenty of time to train the new blood."

*Driing Driing*, "OH SHIT!" Gemei woke up once again thinking he was late, but to his surprise, it was only seven in the morning. "Hey, I actually woke up early for once." The sight of seven o'clock flashing in red as the alarm went off filled his eyes with pride and joy that in turn started to water thanks to him rubbing his palm over his eyes and face. Finally able to wake up early, Gemei made breakfast, "The egg is burning GEMEI!" Mei yelled inside Gemei's head.

"Damn chill out Mei, I usually skip breakfast but today it's different, so cut me some SLACK."

On another note, the publication of Top and Bottom was approved thanks to the little stunt Sophie pulled during the weekend. Once the book hit the shelves, it sold out faster than expected. Even though it's only been two days, people worldwide are still purchasing via the internet. So far an approximate number of ten thousand has been recorded which made the name Gemei Ashford semi-famous.

Alas, our hero did not want any unnecessary attention, instead, he asked the publisher to keep his identity a secret, leaving only the name Ashford out to the public.

"I did not expect Top and Bottom to do well for a depressing romance story; I guess people love dark stuff just like me. With all the money coming in regularly, I could quit school and go live my remaining life doing nothing." Gemei thought to himself without any emotion.

"What's the point in that Gemei; you're basically living that way right now. You rarely attend school, and with money coming each month from your parent's company even before the publication of the book you surely can't truly be thinking that." Mei replied back giving his thoughts on the matter. Gemei concluded the conversation with,

"Well, semi-famous and all now did not make my boring life any better. Guess I'll continue living as if nothing happened."

For the next few weeks, nothing especially worth talking about happened, Gemei was living a normal boring school life meanwhile Vurdal was off on vacation with his family, Alfie after seeing what little he accomplished during that fateful day decided to devote his time into intensive training. Autumn, on the other hand, went back into her normal life being a teenager, thanks to Dragena's reach; she got transferred into Ashford academy with the catch being that she'll only be able to attend class the following term which was only like a few weeks away.