Chapter Text
"Wow, that was intense. Man, I can't wait to get ho-" said Charles. But before the doors of the pod could close, a Toppat member tugged Henry out of the pod. If he was going down, he was gonna take Henry down with him! Charles grabbed Henry and tossed him back into the pod, but the savage member managed to pull back Charles. Charles mustered the last of his strength to push the member against the pod door when it closed shut.
"Henry, you there? Ugh, man, they roughed me up. Got them though. Gotta be another escape pod somewhere... We did it though, we got him. A pretty good plan. You could even say it was the greatest pla-"
And then, silence. Charles Calvin's final words that broke Henry's heart instantly, right in the final escape pod where he viewed the explosion of the Toppat Clan's space station through the broken window. Charles never made it out.
"General, the Toppat Clan's space station has been destroyed." said an officer through the tent flaps with a depressed Henry looking down at the dirt, wrapping his coat around his body for comfort. He had not felt this kind of loss before.
"Excellent news!" General Galeforce congratulated Henry, but took notice of the frown on his face when he should be smiling.
"Hm? What's wrong?" he asked. "You should be happy, Henry! You just took down the orbital station of the notorious Toppat Clan! Come on, cheer up, have a drink!"
Henry stuttered a bit, mustering his strength to speak, but eventually couldn't tell what happened to Charles. He then took off and disappeared into the forest to get some fresh air. Ellie walked into the tent and leaned against the support beam of it, asking what's up with Henry. He came back still feeling sad, but developed a little energy to inform Galeforce about the mishap in space. Yes, the mishap that Henry couldn't do anything to prevent. Maybe if he didn't turn into a criminal, Charles would still be alive and breathing now.
"It's about Cha-Charles... How am I supposed to say this... Ugh it's kind of hard to say." He paused for a moment, but General Hubert urged him to go on. "Charles...never made it out. He saved me, but he didn't..come home. He was speaking to me through the escape pod's intercom but was interrupted by the explosion. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I understand if you don't want me around anymore." Henry ran out of there the moment he finished his confession so fast that Hubert didn't think of a response.
A month has passed by since the explosion. The government has been making an effort to round up the remaining Toppat Clan members before they cause any other trouble. Hubert didn't do such a great job as usual without Henry in their arsenal. In fact, a couple of things went wrong when Ellie tried to lead the team. She almost got herself captured by the clan. That was when Hubert had enough. The Right Hand Man is still out there with his associates and they will not stop at nothing to wreck chaos in the world for their own benefit. So Hubert ordered Ellie to drag Henry back to their new campsite located near where they think a new Toppat Clan hideout is constructed, no matter if he wants it or not.