Chapter Text
”Captain!” Admist the chaos, Gepard had still turned in time to hear his soldier shout, enough time to react in a split second. That was all it took for Gepard to put himself between the blast and his men, Earthwork slamming into the ground in front of him. Walls of ice shot up and caught the brunt of the explosion, and Gepard stood his ground despite the force of the blast. Fragmentum monsters, shrapnel from the explosion and discarded machinery alike were caught in the towering wall, glimmering in the sun.
Gepard turned to count heads. How many men had he lost in the chaos, how many hadn’t made it behind his shield? His turn on his heel moved into slow motion. He detected movement behind him. Gepard clenched an armoured fist and raised his arm to take a spear of Fragmentum, splitting his armour as it tore through his arm and emerged with a splatter of crimson. With his other hand, he ripped himself away from the monster, remaining stoic in front of his men despite the searing pain and the hot, pulsing corruption left behind. He finally seethed and clenched his teeth, dropping to one knee as he gripped at his mangled arm. The threat was gone, that last monster had fallen to Gepard’s brute force, but he only saw the hazy outline of his comrade’s helmets before he fell.
Securing his prosthetic with a metallic ‘click’ after gearing up into his armour, Gepard clenched a fist and moved each finger. No matter how long it had been, he would always struggle with that feeling. The silver fist where his hand had once been, moving as though it had always been apart of his body. The men who’d been there no longer spoke of the incident, and those who hadn’t been there didn’t dare ask. Captain Landau had been on leave for less than a month before he came back, different at first, but he settled back to his usual self rather quickly. It was never addressed.
Gepard stood heroically on a mountain over the city, deep in the plains of Jarilo-IV. He had gone out here on his own, seeking the solitude only the wilderness offered. The cold winds bit at his cheeks, frost coated the tips of his hair and his eyelashes, but he didn’t budge. He took in all of Belobog, reminding himself that everything he could see was his duty to protect. No matter the cost. His will would never falter, no matter what the Fragmentum took from him. He had made thar promise long ago, and he wasn’t a fool— he would never betray an Aeon.
“Gepard… Gepard…” The voice sends a chill down his spine that the freeze couldn’t bring. Gepard knows what it is. He doesn’t need to turn to look to know he’ll see one of his fallen comrades, the corrupt form of a Silvermane Guard that the Fragmentum had consumed. Gepard takes a knee as the familiar, hot sting courses through him again, nearly winding him with its power. The echoes are louder than usual. Closer than usual. The corruption was growing stronger within him, pushing deeper into his veins and trying to win him. Gepard’s determination, and his stubbornness, raged a war within his own mind. He imagined walls of ice swallowing the corruption before it could take over, the same way he defended on the battlefield. No one else in Belobog could shield the people the way he did, so he would shield his own mind from the corruption.
“I finished fixing up that gauntlet, Geppie. You gotta be more careful with this kind of thing.” Serval teasingly scolded him, handing her younger brother the gauntlet that now doubled as his prosthetic arm. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t dare tamper with something like this, but Serval was Serval. She’d done it without even giving Gepard time to think of the potential consequences. It meant more work for herself, maintaining both Earthwork and his gauntlet now, but providing Gepard with these tools meant keeping him alive, and that was more important than any workload he could bring.
“You know, it’s been almost a year now, and you still haven’t talked about what actually happened that day. It might do you some good to-“
“There’s nothing to talk about. What’s done is done.” Gepard cut her off, attaching his arm with a ‘click’. “Thank you for the repairs, Serval, but I don’t need to talk about anything that happened in the past.” With that, Gepard left the workshop, shutting the topic down once again.
“Oh, Gepard…”
Gepard exhaled, breath swirling in the cold air. He stood over the Fragmentum monster he had just defeated, unable to avert his gaze. It would always be unsettling when it took the form of someone he had known. Someone he had trained and worked alongside for years. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t allow them to win.