THE AWAKENING: BIO-GENETICS

Hiro strolled close to the beach, the air chilly, and blustering harshly. Hiro continued his stroll, his hands in neither side of his sweater, the hoodie up, the wind flutter the bangs of his hair against his forehead.

He halts his steps, his head turning to a view faraway, his looks expressionless.

The waves carried the water to the sand, leaving a wet imprint.

"Hiro?" A voice came behind him.

Hiro didn't turn, his blind eyes still fixed at a far distance.

Yuki was behind him, the wind carrying her long brown hair, weightlessly.

"I saw you leave your room" she began.

"Still can't sleep?"

Hiro turned his gaze away from the view, his head bending to face the ground.

"Whenever I close my eyes, all I see is a constant reminder" he intoned.

"You still see those eyes, don't you," she said for certain.

Hiro rubbed his forehead where the Were-Alpha's tail was once present, even though it was all healed up, he could still feel an imprint there, like he was marked.

"The eyes that belong to the Queen Kaiju"

Hiro's lips pressed in a thin, his fist clenching.

"You should head back, it's cold out here" he states continuing his stroll.

The wind blustering around.

*

Operation Base

"You have your new orders... come back to base" Prime Minister Kiyoshi announced through the online video stream.

"But Kiyoshi-sama we now have the info we need about the Kaiju's, we know who controls them, give us permission to find the Queen Kaiju and end this" Kaede said sternly.

"We can't exactly launch on the Kaiju's with the current state you're in, you have only resources to survive not to wage a war," he said sternly.

"Kiyoshi-sama is right, attacking the Kaiju's right now will be the death of us, we need a plan and more importantly to get back on our feet, we can't exactly do that here' Anzai said sternly.

"The Fukuoka base is solely like a safe-hold, turning this place to a war zone will diminish our plan, I'm sure you know very well Kaede, we are running out of power in the base".

The rest froze at his words.

"How come I do not know of this" Touka said with shaky eyes.

Hachiro nods in agreement.

"This matter was kept solely for the engineering team and some trusted personnel, sharing the news broadly will most likely have caused panic" He explained.

Touka's eyes shake at his words, she couldn't believe this, the base housing million of lives under was slowly dying away, no wonder he was so obsessed with stationing a surface base.

"General Anzai" Touka said without sparing him a glance.

"Did you know about this?"

"Yes," Anzai replied sternly.

She scoffs at his words, she couldn't believe this.

"You all have to understand why I kept this from you... it was all specifically for the greater good" Kiyoshi said sternly.

"General Anzai!"

"Yes Kiyoshi-sama!"

"You have new orders to return to base with the bio-genetics, we can't afford any other attack on our safe-hold, they will be safer within the base until we devise a plan for the Queen Kaiju," he said finally as the video went offline.

Tori sighs turning to Kazuya standing beside him.

"You knew about this didn't you".

She shrugs.

"I'm part of the engineering, they only just told me but not in details, I'm not the one in charge"

"So the base won't hold on anymore?" Kashi said with shaky eyes.

"The surface isn't exactly safe right now, we're talking about mass destruction if we're about to move out right now!" he panics.

"The power can hold on for a few more years, but to be exact we don't know how many years," Anzai said.

"This explains like he was so bent on sending the bio-genetics to the surface, we practically rushed all process because of this" Kenta said with a tightening fist, he has always wanted to study bio-genetics more. But all that came to halt when they became soldiers and more when Anzai took over.

"We should know that wasn't the only reason, Prime Minister Kiyoshi was always bent on reclaiming the surface, the bio-genetics paved a way for it," Hachiro said adjusting his glasses.

"Which is why we have to rid the surface of Kaiju's, so that it can be safe, our main target now..." Anzai said as his eyes narrowed.

"Is the Queen Kaiju!"

***

Medical Base

Hiro stood before Sand's unconscious body, his whole body covered in bandages still stained with blood, several wires with pipes connected to it also.

It has been two weeks since the attack and yet no improvement in his condition, Dr. Touka said it was a slim chance he would recover, his wounds were healing at a very slow rate, slower than normal and the wound he sustain in his chest only made it worse.

The door slide open and Aimi walks in with a bunch of flowers she picked from their new garden. Her body stiffens seeing Hiro standing close to Sand's bed.

"Hiro"

He turned.

"I was wondering who always brought flowers" he states.

She forced a smile as she walks up to the table with worn-out flowers, she switched them.

"I thought it might light up the room a bit," she said discarding the old ones in the trash bin.

"And besides I owe it to him". she pulled some strands of her purple hair behind her ear.

"I wasn't exactly nice to him" she adds with sad eyes remembering how mean she was to him about her friend's death, Hanka. She regretted everything.

"I let my grief get the better of me, I wish I could take all I said to him back" she slowly turned her gaze to Hiro.

"Which is why I have decided... I will stay here in Fukuoka with him, I won't return to base".

"When he wakes up, I was to be able to tell him how sorry I'm," she said with hopes of him waking up.

Hiro forced a smile.

"That's nice of you Aimi"

***

At the door Mary heard everything, her eyes shaking at Aimi's words, her tightened fist clenched closely to her chest, her expression darkening.

"I will leave Sand in your care", she heard Hiro.

Mary turned abruptly, walking away in a hurry.

***

"I can't believe this, after a month out on the surface we're finally gonna be back to base," Ten said still in awe of it.

"It seems like you're happy about it," Shino said.

"Well being on the surface we always have to worry about staying alive, it would be cool not to worry about that for a change," he said with a shrug.

"But you know going back won't exactly be easy, we got Kaiju's out there, in every corner, and let's hope we don't run into an Alpha or worst a Were-Alpha, none of us can survive that if we do" Shino reasoned.

"True," Ten said with sad eyes, he then sighed, even going back won't be in peace.

"All we have to do is stay ready in what's to come," Shino said.

"And this stuff about the Queen Kaiju... now we know who controls them, I wonder when we will find her and end all this" Ten said with shaky eyes.

"General Anzai said we will but first we have to head back to base," Shino said staring at the view before them, the setting sunlight.

"Hiro hasn't been himself ever since Sand"

Shino's features turned downhearted.

"We should give him time, he will come around," he said tapping Ten's shoulder, Ten nods.

Yuki approached them, seeing them seated on a large rock about 15 feet tall.

"Have you guys seen Hiro?" she asked.

"No, we haven't, He probably went to see Sand," Ten said.

"I checked but he isn't there," she said with a frown.

"Damn Hiro how long is he gonna isolate himself" Ten murmurs.

Shino's eyes were fixed on Yuki.

"I will look for him" she states turning to walk away.

But Shino still had his eyes on her.

He remembered General Anzai's words when he called him to his office a week ago.

***

A Week Ago

"I'm sure by now you have noticed some loopholes about Yuki," Anzai began in a serious tone.

Shino gulps hard.

"She's a very strange person, from the start, and also her interest in Hiro... I don't wanna conclude on anything but I want to be sure, but this is a start of how mysterious Nagami Yuki can be" Anzai said dropping a transparent tablet before Shino.

Shino took it to read the contents, it was Yuki's profile before Black Storm day.

"This is...." Shino's eyes trembling.

Anzai nods.

"There's no info about her, how's that possible?"

"She's blank, we couldn't trace a family or anything, all we know is that she was present on a black storm day, the same spot Hiro was in," Anzai said as his eyes narrowed.

"You mean she has known Hiro way before Black Storm?"