Porter fell to the ground, sending up a plume of snow around his massive Goliath. This was all calculated though, intentional, as Sigmeund's weapon breezed by harmlessly above the youth. He kicked his legs up, flipping his Goliath back into a standing position while his two elbows came down hard from above on Sigmeund, smashing into his battlesuit's shoulders. The pilot then stumbled away again, staggering and swaying with his falsified technique.

"It's a unique ability you have Porter, to draw from your past experiences as an inexperienced pilot." Sigmeund grabbed the White Storm and pushed it back, creating the separation his lengthy weapon needed in a fight. "It would be useless against so many others though."

"If that is what it takes to beat you then-" Porter was cut off by Sigmeund sweeping his lance outwards, clipping Porter and knocking him sideways. The general sprung up, flying downwards with his weapon poised for the killing strike.

"Never time to talk so much on the battlefield."

"I've learned from certain people you can always talk when you're nervous." Porter calmly lay on the ground, and the spear drove into the ground next to his Goliath's head, Sigmeund anticipating an effort to roll out of the way. Porter thrust his twin blades upwards, letting the points rest against Sigmeund's chest, but not piercing through the armour. "Match."

The Artisan sighed and stood up, stretching out his machine's mechanical joints. "A test of your resolve, your ability to think under pressure and react without delving into your chi to let it take over. It was interesting, unorthodox. Even with an emotional trigger of your father's death you did not back down."

"So it was just a lie, a trick?" Sigmeund froze with his arms lifting up to the sky. The Goliath's head snapped back down to carefully examine the White Storm, as though Sigmeund were trying to look straight through the metal exterior.

"A trick? If that helps you sleep at night you can think of it that way. You can be like so many other people. Hoaxes and conspiracies and lies and games. When you go to bed at night and think about the terror of this world's reality, it is so much easier to believe it is all just a disguise. The world can't really be that bad right? I couldn't have been an Enian, because I am an Artisan now. I couldn't have killed him because when they came to your door they told you a story. When you think of it like that, you close your eyes at night and dream of happy pastures." Sigmeund stopped, bringing his arms back down. The Silver Hawk's head tilted up to stare at the sky, the filters on the visual cameras helping it stare directly into the sun. "My eyes don't close at night Porter. They're always open."

With that, the small Mongoose-class battlesuit took off back up the cliff face, leaping between outcrops and ledges on its way back to Ochenkov. Porter sat on the ground for a bit, running through Sigmeund's words again and trying his best to keep his feelings about his father held deep in his chest. This was not the time for him to have an emotional breakdown. There was a war on the horizon.

* * * * *

"Yo Porter," Chase was walking towards his friend down one of the hallways of the military base. The group had been relieved of guard patrols by Ochenkov and let loose inside the building. "I heard the general was making you do some extra laps out there. Still tripping over your feet in the cold?" Chase smacked Porter a bit too hard on the back, half his friend and half his enemy.

Porter chuckled a little in response, though it was extremely forced. He did it only out of courtesy towards Chase. And because he needed him. "Yeah, you know, Ochenkov just running me around and everything."

"Well, you know what they say right? Life sucks and then you die."

"I think that has a bit of a literal application seeing as we could be massacred at any moment Chase." The teenager paused to reflect on his sentence a bit, his face puzzled and confused, but Porter continued anyways, grabbing Chase by the arm and hauling him off towards the bathroom. "Listen, can we talk for a second?"

"I guess so but make it short. I don't want to be seen associating with someone like you around the other soldiers." Porter resisted the urge to smash his head against the wall as he and Chase stepped aside into an empty room. "So what do you need?"

"What was it like when...when your mom ...uhmm..." Porter struggled for words. He had practiced what to say when the time came but he hadn't expected it to be so difficult to actually say them. Now he was forgetting the rest of his sentence and second-guessing his approach. "...When your mom died...to...to save you."

Chase's body slumped backwards, propped up against the wall before he began sliding down until he was sitting. His normally proud, upright head dropped down into his hands. "What was it like? What was it like..." Chase started to mumble to himself, repeating the phrase over and over. "It was terrible Porter, it was awful. Why the hell would you ever want to know about it?" Chase's lifeless eyes came ablaze with anger.

"Because I found out my dad...kind of did that too. But not to protect me. To try and save my brother, Sigma, before they turned him into a robot." Porter managed to keep his body upright, using all of his focus just to prevent his legs from shaking. He had to squeeze his fingernails into his palm, the pain reminding him to keep his body strong. "And it didn't work."

"Do you just think that's the same Porter? Do you think you and I are equals now? That if your dad was killed trying to save your brother it is the same as my mother protecting me and dying right in front of my eyes? Did you even see him? No, you thought it was something innocent, you were just lonely. And now you think that we are brothers in suffering or loss or whatever. Well it isn't true! Yours is nothing like mine."

"Chase," Porter snapped, silencing the hot heads furious rant. "I just want to know...how you dealt with it. I just want to know how I should feel. That's all."

"Maybe I should help with that." The soft voice cut through the tension. Riya stood in the doorway, a faint smile on her lips, watching the pair argue. Before either could say a word against her, she had stepped inside, grabbing Porter's hand to comfort him.

"Why would you be able to...wait." Chase reviewed the situation with suspicion. "Are you two, like, together?"

"Well no, not really, I uh, wouldn't say together so much as-"

"Yes," Riya interrupted Porter's rant, stunning the two boys.

"Excuse me while I go tell everyone." Chase ran off through the door with a newfound excitement, leaving Porter and Riya alone in the room.

"T-thank you Riya," Porter said through chattering teeth. He wasn't sure if he was more nervous or terrified or excited. Had Riya, girl of his dreams, really just said they were together? To somebody else?

"That should keep him away for a while." Porter's heart sunk immediately as a wave of confusion swept through his head. So was it really all just a ploy to get rid of Chase? Now he didn't know anything. "If you remember, my father tried to have me killed for the Enigma Project, Porter. Maybe I know how it feels when you think they betrayed you."

"Maybe...I guess...I don't know if he betrayed me..." Riya had just dumped all of Porter's old problems into his already swirling mind, and he didn't know where he was anymore in his own thoughts. "I mean I don't feel bad that he tried to save Sigma and left me because I think he wanted us all together. You know, as a family?"

"I know of the idea." Riya smiled and nodded but Porter was halted by her words.

"The idea?"

"The idea."

Porter scratched his head for a bit. "So you're saying-"

"I've never had a family, no." Porter saw a flicker in Riya' smile, a momentary waver in her comforting strength. "My mother left my father right after I was born. I never saw her again. I was too young to even remember her face, and my dad removed all her pictures from the home. But since he was always working for his company or sending me away to a foreign school, it was like he didn't even exist. I think I could count on my fingers how many times we ate together, and I'd need my toes to remember how many times we talked. Of course, then there was the whole kill me thing."

"I'm sorry Riya, I never realized-"

"This isn't about pity to distract you Porter. It's about understanding why. I know who my father is, I've always known, and the pursuit of power and money, even at the cost of his daughter, is something he would accept. So I think your father pursuing an attempt to bring his family back together sounds like what he would do." Porter stared at her, his lips trembling as he tried his best to look composed. "Listen Porter, you have to remember that parents are also people too at the same time. They have a person's life and a parent's life. Sometimes they make decisions as a person instead of as a parent. And other times they make them as a parent instead of as a person. Right?"

"Right." I think, Porter added in his mind. Something about Riya's presence was comforting though, a softness that flowed out from her frail body and enveloped Porter. It eased his thoughts, helping them smooth out and run properly once more. Why was he angry at his father? For dying? For leaving him alone? But why was he mad at Sigma? For also abandoning him. He couldn't have both worlds. He couldn't be angry at a father who tried to reunite his family and infuriated at a brother who left. It was one or the other.

Or neither.

The words flashed through his mind for a single second. What if he couldn't be mad at any of them? What if he couldn't blame anyone for the choices they made in their lives? What if it was Porter's own fault for hating his life? And what if his life had now found a purpose?

"When we hold on to the sins of the past, the sins override our memories." Riya wrapped her arms around Porter, gently. "That is one of the famous verses from Saint Ishiyama. I think it holds very true to many situations. Maybe if the rest of the world listened to it, we wouldn't always be fighting."

"Wouldn't stop the Jahari from coming up."

"Wouldn't it though?" Riya tilted her head sideways, the grin on her face expressing she thought she knew something Porter had not yet fathomed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if the Jahari weren't just a legend and were sitting underground this whole time, why did they come up now? Why didn't they just keep sitting down there in exile? At what point did they decide they were going to rise up and attack us? Or maybe...did we attack them first? Or worse..."

As Riya trailed off, her eyes took on a distant look, and Porter thought he could see memories of Riya's father reflecting in each iris. "We just fight Riya. We got sent down to help out here and to use our training and Goliaths. We are supposed to keep the Jahari back."

"But aren't you curious at all? Don't you want to know what lies behind these wars?"

"Sometimes..."

"But you have bigger problems? Your own?" Riya didn't say the words with malice. She said them sweetly, in an understanding tone, but Porter still flinched. He recognized for a bit that perhaps the petty issues of a single human were likes a grain of sand compared to the weight of the global problems.

"I...I guess."

"We all have our own lives to work out. I'm just a bit curious why ours have to be risked for things we don't fully understand. And what about your brother?" Riya took pause, noticing how Porter shifted his glance away at the mention of Sigma. "If he is some secret weapon to fight the Artisan forces and other enemies, why didn't he fight them?"

"He went rogue, remember? The reports were on the news for a bit."

"But then what about the massacre in the plains? He was there, and Syn was there, and Sigma only killed Jahari. He didn't touch Artisans or Enians."

"And Syn killed everything. That doesn't prove anything."

"But it is curious isn't it?"

"If my brother does whatever the hell he wants!" Porter yelled in a sudden burst of emotion. His face went flush with red and he immediately recoiled from a very shocked Riya. This was it right here. This was the end. How could he snap at the girl that he l...l...liked so much? She had been nothing but sweet and he had turned his anger out on her.

But Riya did not run away, nor did she slap Porter or cry. Instead, her smile returned once again, and she draped herself over the young man, squeezing his body tight to hers. "I'm so sorry Porter. I never had a family and I accepted that long ago." Riya pulled away for a moment and stared at Porter with glassy eyes, seemingly on the verge of tears. "And here you are, struggling to know if you really are alone or not. You are teased and tortured with a family that sits just outside your reach. I was insensitive to that and I'm sorry."

"I-it's ok Riya. I'm sorry I yelled like that. I don't know-"

Riya placed her finger on Porter's lips, silencing him. "You don't have to explain." She began to lean forward, her eyes closing and lips pursing together. Porter felt his heart begin to pound, his gut twisting, turning his body rigid and tight. His muscles were wrapped in nerves. He hadn't really shared a kiss like this, in this kind of moment, since the night of the dance. This felt bigger, different. This one mattered more. Since that night they had done so much. Now he had a brother, he had been to a different country, he was a new person. Was he? Was he changed since the beginning? More of...of a man?

The face of his love drew closer. His brain sped up even faster, running through a million thoughts in a single second. Was this right? Was this wrong? How would he kiss her and would it be right? Was he even good at kissing...

Sirens blared throughout the hallways of the base. Soldiers began running past the door to the little room, scrambling and yelling orders at one another. A voice started repeating in the intercom. This is not a drill, this is not a drill.

Riya was already standing. Porter had been in a bit of a daze, his brain still fizzling between the kiss and the sudden alert. Had they even kissed Or had he been cut off? "Sorry Porter," Riya said, pulling at her clothing nervously. She wasn't able to make eye contact with him, and instead she stared at her own feet, her cheeks glowing red. "We will find a better time after ok?"

Porter just sat on the floor, his head spinning, his tongue rolling around in his mouth as he tried to reign in it so he could speak. "Uh...ok." It was all he could muster. Riya gave him a quick kiss on the forehead, the softness of her lips sending shivers up and down Porter's spine. He saw a spark or two shoot off his fingertips, his chi fluctuating wildly in that moment. It wasn't quite what he had prepared for, but a kiss was a kiss. Riya helped haul Porter up off the floor and the two stepped out into a hall suddenly flooded with troops and pilots.

Raul dashed up to them, stopping when they caught his attention. "What's going on?" Riya had to ask as Porter was still dumbfounded.

"Jahari," Raul responded, somewhat out of breath from running. "A lot of Jahari."

A/N: The race to 100 chapters begins as the battle for earth itself escalates. Let the northern invasion commence!