Grinding his teeth, JD stood next to the helicopter and made sure that nobody was left behind.

The village in the middle of a frosty no man's land had been attacked a few hours ago, at broad daylight. As this misery had just begun, the Swarm had been less active, had only attacked at night, later at dawn when most of the sun was gone. But with time it had started to become more of a threat.

The attack on the village was just one more reason to be worried. Besides all the other reasons.

Not far away from him, Kait was sitting on the ground, sobbing and gasping for cold, forty air. Her hands held Oscar's covered body tightly wrapped, refusing to let go. She didn't even let some COG people take it away so that he could receive a proper goodbye. She just sat there, fighting and hating.

JD wondered if he would have been like this too if he would've managed to get his hands on you the day he had found you.

"JD.", with a soft expression on his face, Del walked up to him. "Thanks, JD. For coming here."

The months had changed him too. Just like his friend, Del looked a lot older now than he actually was. He had gained a few pounds of muscles and had grown a beard himself.

JD had not seen him after returning to the COG as a Gear. It was nice to see him again, almost refreshing.

With a nod of his head, he managed to smile slightly. But it was more a formality.

"Of course.", JD said.

For a moment, silence spread between the two. Many words were lingering in the air, unspoken yet burning on their skins like a fire that tried to consume everything.

Finally, Del took a deep breath in.

"Man, listen...", he tried to choose his words carefully, but couldn't hide the fact that he was hurt. "I- we... We thought you would be one of us..."

JD let out a huff.

"You mean an Outsider."

"Yeah. We thought you'd be in this with us. Together. Why the hell did you run back to the COG?"

With a grim expression, JD shook his head.

"That's none of your concern."

Del frowned.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we? You owe me an answer for leaving. Kait could have used someone to support her. Especially now."

"And I'm working on getting the person back that could pull me from the darkest hole."

A gasp escaped Del. It sounded awfully annoyed.

Or maybe JD was just imagining things. He had become quite sensitive when it came to others talking about you. And despite Del being a good friend, he did not have the right to be annoyed by the fact that JD was willing to try everything he could to get you back to the living.

Frowning, JD took a step towards him. His expression was dark while his eyes told a silent warning.

"What?", he asked. "Are you blaming me for being selfish? About the person I love?"

Del looked at him. His face darkened as well.

"Yes, I am.", he hissed. "We are your friends. And we're still alive. I'm sorry about what happened, but Kait needs support. And as hard as it might sound, your (Y/N) seems to be beyond saving anyways."

"Careful, Del. I'd hate to knock some sense into you."

"Oh yeah? And I'd hate to see you become more of a bitch!"

Angered, JD grabbed him by his armour.

Del tensed, ready to suffer a few hits to the face.

But before things could escalate, JD's new partner, Fahz, pulled the two apart.

With a warning gaze, he faced Del and shook his head as he looked at JD.

Fahz faced JD again.

"Can I recommend we maybe get the people outta here?", he asked in his smooth yet cocky accent.

Del frowned.

"Hey... just slow down.", he pushed him away.

JD did a gesture to shut him down.

"Fahz is right, we need to move.", he said and turned away to get the people going.

But Del wasn't willing to let the new JD off the hook that easily.

"What are you..? Oscar's dead man! Give her a minute.", he pointed at Kait who was still suffering on her own.

"She'll get her minute in the Raven.", JD insisted.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Del we need to leave..."

Suddenly, Kait raised her head. With wet markings on her cheeks and bated breath, she shook her head.

"I'm not going.", she gasped, a cloud of cold air escaping her mouth.

JD frowned.

"Excuse me?", he asked, now getting slightly annoyed as well.

Trembling, she managed to get pack on her feet.

"For months now I've been having these dreams. Nightmares. But I think they were messages.", she showed him the medallion that her mother had passed on to her before getting cut from the Swam's hive.

JD frowned.

"What?"

"Something's... something's happening to me."

He sighed. Squeezing his eyes shut, he could help but let out a deep growl.

"Enough, we'll deal with this later.", he did a gesture to gather his men. "Fahz, round these people up."

But Kait wouldn't have been Kait if she would've just given up that easily.

"I need help.", she gasped.

"The COG can help."

"I don't want to be a puppet to them! I'm not as immoral as you!"

Angered, JD turned on his heel to face her with an expression that could have killed. With his eyebrows knitted together, he pointed at her in a warning manner. But a sharp pain that chased through his arm quickly made an end to his rage.

Groaning in pain, he had to grab his scarred arm and wait until the automatic mechanism started supporting the damaged limb. As the pain faded again, he looked up at her.

Their eyes locked.

"Think of me what you want.", JD hissed and gifted Del the same kind of look. "But I have my reasons why I went back. And I'm not regretting it. I did what I had to do."

Kait pulled a face.

"But this isn't about you!", she pushed him away. "It's about me!"