Chapter Four: A Peace

  Before the crew decides to venture further, in search of the nearest airport, they go up to the house that Benjie and his mother went into. Zia knocked on the door and waited for the family to answer. The mother peeked through the door to check if it was the Hunters. To her relief, it was The Six Guns. "You guys alright?" Zia asks.

  "You guys need to keep moving before more of those people show up!" The mother panics.

  "Don't worry about us" Siran says, "we can handle ourselves".

  "If... you say so" the mother replies.

  "By the way" Siran asks, "have you seen that guy anywhere? Dude with the weird smile, kinda tall, black hair... called himself Laurence?".

  The mother shakes her head in confusion as her son runs up and hugs her on her side, in fear. "Never heard of or met them before in my life...".

  "Well... thanks anyways" Siran says after a quick sigh.

  "Oh! One more thing" Zia says as she takes out her calling card. Zia pulls out her metal Six Gun calling card with a large letter A on it for Ace. Zia kneels down and hands the card to Benjie, and says to the mother "Tell him to hold onto this for me. Maybe, someday, we'll see each other again".

  "Is that something important?" The mother asks. Zia stands up without answering the question, and waves bye as the crew begins to leave. As the mother looks down at Benjie, he was holding tightly onto the metal calling card, as if he were afraid to let it go for even a second.

  Several hours later, the crew stops by a store to get something to drink. It was the middle of May, and it was really hot outside, so they felt the need to take a break from walking and ask for directions in the meantime. Some of the people they came across didn't speak any English, but they eventually got directions to the nearest airport. As the crew was resting and drinking some bottled water, Zia was thinking about Benjie. She somehow felt a little attached to the kid, even though they haven't exchanged any words yet. Eventually, Zia speaks up and says "I've decided... I want to have a baby".

  Siran spits out a mouthful of water and begins choking. "You did seem rather gentle around the child earlier" Ying points out. "Maybe you just have natural mother instincts?".

  "A Mahina having an instinct that isn't murderous?" Holly asks. "I didn't know those existed".

  "Ack! Gah- hold on!" Siran shouts as he still tries to flush water out of his lungs. After another minute of coughing, Siran eventually says "Several things! First off, you can't just spring something so suddenly like that, catching me off guard! I almost died! Secondly, the Mahina clan was peaceful for the longest time. It was only recently that they were used as a military".

  "Is that a no... on the baby?" Zia asks.

  "We can have a baby" Siran says, "of course we can have a baby... just don't surprise me like that again!".

  There was a short moment of silence as Siran catches his breath. As soon as Siran starts drinking his water again, Holly interjects "Not here though".

  Once again, Siran spits out his water and begins choking. "Holly!" Zia says in shock. "What the hell?".

  "Well... you're the ones talking about making babies" Holly says. "I thought I should clarify that you should not do that with other people around".

  "You're making it worse on purpose, aren't you?" Ying asks calmly.

  "It's fun..." Holly says. "We were supposed to just have a quick mission, in and out of China, but now we have all of this side crap to deal with. I wanna have some fun".

  After a while of traveling, The Six Guns made it to an airport, and was on their way back home. After finally getting back home in Seeira, the rest of the crew at Vivi's house rejoiced at Ying's return. "You guys sure took a while" Vivi says.

  "A lot happened, I'll explain later" Siran says.

  "Now we have almost the entire crew accounted for and safe!" Rose cheers.

  "All that's missing is Ruby" Finn says.

  "Finn!" Vivi shouts.

  "What?" Finn asks.

  Vivi looks over at Alex who was suddenly silent. He was staring down as he slowly reaches in his back pocket and pulls out Ruby's old calling card. Her card that was left behind when she died in the battle against Naris. Alex quietly stared down at it as the room fell silent as well. Vivi stands up, walks over to Alex, and picks him up by his arm. Vivi then drags Alex to one of the rooms in the back to talk alone, and Siran quietly followed behind them. Vivi sits Alex down on one of the beds in the back rooms, and sits next to him. "Alex" She says, "I know you two were close at some point, but it's been three years! She was even our enemy for a while before she was a member of our crew!".

  "I know!" Alex complains. "But still... I can still remember, very clearly, her last words she spoke".

  "I know it's hard" Vivi says, "but you can't mourn everyone forever, Alex. You have to put it behind you, at some point".

  "Of course you can mourn everybody forever" Siran says, "It just takes a lot of sadness and maybe some determination... or guilt, that'll do it too! O-or maybe-".

  "Siran!" Alex yells. Eventually, Alex lets out a loud sigh and says "You killed the mood, Siran".

  "Do you guys get off... by being mad at each other or something?" Siran asks. "You mentioned, when Zia and I came back, that you were going to give Alex a shot... is this like... your thing?".

  Vivi swing a wrench at Siran's head, but Siran dodges it. "Shut it, Siran!" Vivi demands.

  Siran sticks out his tongue and says "You've hit me so many times with that tool, but you won't be able to hit me like that anymore! Hahaha!".

  "Siran..." Alex asks.

  "Yeah?" Siran replies.

  "Do you know what method Ruby used" Alex asks, "to overcharge her body with reactive endo and self destruct like that?".

  "Of course I do" Siran replies. "She either had a charm for it, or had the charm tattooed onto her body somewhere. The whole time she was carrying a bomb and didn't tell us. She was likely planning on trying to take on The Mages herself".

  Alex thinks for a moment and says "At least we were able to be by her side for a little while before she had to go".

  "Alex..." Vivi says calmly, "I'm sorry I got mad, but you already know what I'd do if you keep worrying more about other girls. We agreed to do this! We agreed to live normal lives and be together! Don't you go screwing this up, like you and Siran always did all those years ago".

  "Aw, isn't that sweet?" Siran asks with a bright smile.

  Vivi suddenly whips around with her wrench and smacks Siran over the head with it. "Didn't dodge it that time, you little shit!".

  Nearly two months had passed and it was now July 12th, 2195. Siran and Zia were sitting in Vivi's house with Vivi. Only the three of them were there at the time, and the house was unusually quiet. At this point, they were used to having many people over at all times. But now, it was just Siran, Zia and Vivi here. "I've got good news!" Siran says excitedly as the two first sat down to talk.

  Vivi looks at Zia, who's face was growing red. "What's up with her?" Vivi asks.

  "I-I'm..." Zia says, then pauses for a few seconds. "I'm pregnant" Zia finally says.

  "I'm gonna be a father!" Siran cheers.

  "Oh no" Vivi says.

  "Come on, you can't even support me in a time like this, Vivi?" Siran complains. "This feels like the most important moment of my life so far, and your response is Oh no?".

  "I just don't think you're... ready to be a father" Vivi says. Vivi pats Siran on the head, then says "Don't take too much of an offense to it, but it's kind of a big step in life, y'know?".

  "I'm almost 200 years old!" Siran complains. "I think I'm prepared for this".

  Suddenly, a loud knock was heard at Vivi's door, interrupting their conversation. Vivi goes to answer the door, and on the other side of the door, was a crowd of people all wearing matching outfits. "Who are you people?" Vivi asks in a disappointed tone.

  "Glad you asked" the man in the front of the group says. "My name is Jesse McHartly. We are The Stray Hunters, and we're looking forward to taking down all of the members of The Six Guns".

  "Ooh, you're too late" Vivi replies. "You just missed them".

  "Excuse me?" Jesse asks.

  "Crew disbanded" Vivi says.

"Your crew caused tons of damage!" Jesse says, "possibly brought Naris back, destroyed Omnium Guild, and started a war! You still need to pay for your crimes!".

"Don't care" Vivi says, then slams the door on Jesse's face. Jesse gets furious but Vivi walks away anyways.

"What was going on?" Siran asks.

"Just some die hard fan of yours" Vivi says, "probably wants your autograph".

"Is that code for something?" Zia asks. "Is there trouble?".

"Probably" Vivi says, "but we're no longer in business. So I'm out of this mess. I've got a date coming up in a couple hours, so I'm going to go take a shower. Do what you want".

As Vivi begins to walk away, Jesse and his band of Hunters break down Vivi's door. "Look here!" He yells.

Siran and Zia stand up, each of them taking out their guns and loading them with magic. Vivi continues to walk away, with a big smile on her face. Siran and Zia walk up close to the Hunters and aim their weapons at them.

"Looks like it's time to get back to work" Siran says.

The Hunters take out their own guns, but suddenly, the air began to get really cold. The floor beneath them started forming ice as their breathing was suddenly giving off steam. Behind them, stood Blake. "Some of us have jobs around here" Blake says. "It would be in your best interest to back away now".

"Right" Jesse says sarcastically as he slowly turns around. "And how're you gonna make us?".

"Like this!" Siran shouts as he jumps at the group with both of his feet aimed at them for a kick. As Siran plants his feet in Jesse's chest, he bends his knees and a lot of black smoke builds up under his feet. When Siran kicks outward, the entire group of Hunters were immediately thrown out of Vivi's house. As they all hit the ground, Blake cuffed their arms and legs to the dirt with thick cuffs of ice. "So, what're you here for right now, Blake?" Siran asks.

"Oh, I need to see Doctor Ivanov" Blake replies. "Is he with Vivi?".

"No, Vivi's busy with something else today" Siran replies.

"H-hey!" Jesse calls from on the ground. "Are you ignoring us?".

"Who're those guys?" Blake asks.

"Girl Scouts" Siran says. "Pay them no mind".

"Oh" Blake says.

"We'd be grateful enough to forget about trying to hunt you" Jesse says, "if you let us go".

"So where's Doc now?" Blake asks.

"Probably at home, sleeping in" Siran answers.

"You're ignore us again..." Jesse says.

"Alright, thanks" Blake says, then walks away.

"Hey!" Jesse calls out. "What about us!?".

"It's summer..." Siran says as he looks down at the Hunters. "The cuffs'll melt eventually. Stop being such a baby".

"Syr?" Zia asks. "You seem awfully bothered and pouty... what's bothering you?".

"Violet said I'm not ready to be a father" Siran scoffs. "I'm like two centuries old! I'm ready to be a father! I can totally be a father! I can be the best father! No one can father like I can!".

"Are you sure you're ready for something like that, Syr?" Zia asks.

"I'm totally ready, Zia" Siran assures.

Nearly nine months later, April 8th of 2196, Siran and Zia's son was born. His name was Silas Mahina. He adopted his mother's last name since Siran doesn't necessarily have a last name that he can remember. At first, Siran was in love with his child. However, Zia and Siran struggled deeply to keep up with their son. "I'm not ready" Siran cries softly as he's half asleep, trying to put his son to sleep. "I'm not ready for this at all!".

"Just relax" Zia says as she's half asleep too. "The baby won't relax if you're not relaxed".

"Please relax..." Siran says with tears of exhaustion forming in his eyes. However, the baby started crying. "Please relax harder!" Siran starts to panic.

It took the two of them a lot of time to learn how to be proper parents for their son, Silas. It was strangely a lot more peaceful than usual for a long time, as well. Blake's old Hunter group, The Yin Hunters occasionally came by and stayed in Seeira for a while. While there, their group kept other Hunters out of Seeira, and helped the former Six Guns crew find peace. Like this, they were able to find peace. The Six Guns moved on with their lives. However, that peace didn't last forever.