Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lolita was lying on top of Bill's carcass, the smell of burning hair and who knew what else filling her nostrils. She coughed painfully, and almost winced at the faint voice. Her arm hurt like hell, especially with the heated knife in it. Lo felt like screaming in pain, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She tried to speak. She tried to ask for some help, pulling her arm off the knife. But nothing. No noise. She just couldn't speak anymore. Lolita grimaced and simply yanked her left arm out, feeling the knife's remains go through her forearm. Lolita made a small mewling noise from the pain. She was crying, but smiling at the same time, looking at and cradling her arm. Her mouth moved, "We're alive." The other two heard nothing. That didn't matter to her one bit. She didn't care. Lolita was feeling warm again.

The sky seemed to explode, and a loud whining noise like that of an engine of some kind could be heard. The voice showed up in the trio's heads "You have succeeded. Live, and be strong. you have done what the people of this world could not, and defeated yourselves." the voice, and all the feelings that had been coming with it vanished, along with the clouds, and the wind.

They were replaced by bright lights, and that loud whine of an engine. Versa looked up, being blinded by the dropping shuttle, which soon landed at the edge of the crater. another group of soldiers scrambled out of the shuttle, and versa tried to call to them, to tell them to go back, and it was too dangerous, but they kept coming, making their way down the wall of the crater, carrying stretchers.

He looked up to the sky and saw the grace of heaven descending on metal wings wafting in the turmoil of plasma and air currents. He smirked, believing he was going home. And that's when Lolita went nuts, scooping him up, squeezing his injuries tight, and generally crushing him. "OHDEARGODS!" he shouted without any pause between words. "Lo, let me DOWN! You're, ugh... Ugh, you're crushing me!"

At the marine's question, Lolita's smile slowly faded away, and she shut here eyes closed, shaking her head back and forward hard. Her hair flung little bits of bloody mud about as she did so. Another hand merely shooed the medics back as though they were children. Lolita did a solemn walk to the shuttle. 'Is it really over?' Her hand fell to the waist, and briefly touched the tattered uniform tied about her waist.

"I don't think I'm so okay anymore..." Versa said, as he looked over the crater, looked at the body that had been Bill just minutes before. "This, I think, was worse than being alone in lizard country." Versa shivered, as his hand was administered to and wrapped up. the three were all taken into the shuttle, along with the group of marines. Marcus was already in there, crouched in a corner, looking very bewildered.

The shuttle ascended, blasting off into space, and, after a few minutes of flying, made its way into the Iroquois scout they all belonged to. It was a major loss for the ship, nearly 3/4 of its marines gone, but, whatever had been down there, they didn't want to know, and marked the planet on their starmaps as "Uninhabitable."

In the coming days, months, years...

"Post-traumatic Vocal Disarticulation" was what they labeled Lolita Hart with. She simply could either no longer speak, or was unwilling. Though, Lolita was able to make simple noises, such as a grunt of annoyance or a cheery laugh. Laughs. Those were in short supply. Shortly after receiving vacation like the others, she was perhaps the most discussed, photographed and simply bothered of the four survivors.

Then again, she was the most frustrating for the news reporters to deal with, if only because she couldn't speak. The paparazzi of course, didn't give a damn about whether she could speak or not, and proceeded to take photo after photo of her to accompany their bad stories.

Lolita spent what spare time she had with the other four survivors whenever she could. Like Hume, she found that there was nothing that could give her comfort like being with others whom she had struggled with. She seemed to dote upon the younger Marcus as well, as though he were a younger brother. Still, there was a certain...reminder Lolita had always kept with her personal effects; the tattered and blood stained clothing of one Shinji Ikeda. Though this person had died years prior, and the presence of the uniform brought further questions up, she kept it. It and it's owner were perhaps what saved Lolita from falling over the brink and into true, absolute despair.

Though unable to speak due to post traumatic stress, Lolita was otherwise fit for duty, and returned to the field once more as a Heavy Gunner.

In the coming days, months, years...

During the final struggle, Marcus did his best to follow his squad into the crater, but as he approached the crater he lost his balance and was knocked unconscious. He came to as the medics were carrying him away, and he made sure to apologize to the other for not being of any help.

Certain that being on the frontlines was not for him, Marcus put in a request for a transfer out of the marines, but that idea was put down quickly by his friends. So, as a compromise, Marcus has recieved specialized training and is now the field medic for his squad. He also became the fastest track runner in his squad.

With no family to go back to, his newfound friends became the driving force in his life, and he spends as much time as he can with them. Even though he contributed little, he is thankful for them, and always makes sure they remember it. Although, he is somewhat irked that he is only seen as a 'little brother' by Lolita.